Gossip Girl
by Lady MSM
Summary: While spending a summer in Alqualonde with her crazy extended family, Aredhel observes several scandals and gets involved in one of her own. Complete at last.
1. Author's Notes

Gossip Girl

**Gossip Girl**

_**Disclaimer: Don't own it. Don't own the title, either, in fact—stole it from Cecily von Ziegesar. Good lord, I'm a common thief! My mother must be so proud…**_

_**I started writing this a few weeks ago, and since it's incredibly freaking cold and snowy where I am right now, I decided that I really needed to get going on something that took place in the summer. I feel warmer already!**_

**Author's Notes**

All righty then, this is the part of the show where I explain all my little weirdnesses and on-purpose inaccuracies in as entertaining a manner as possible. Bear with me, people.

First of all, you will notice that this story, like most of my others, takes place in medieval times and yet everyone talks like modern teenagers. This is because I _am_ a modern teenager, and I have trouble writing in Tolkien's more formal style. Sorry about that. : )

Secondly, there is a bit of an age thing that must be explained. Elves come of age at about 50 human years, I think, so I figure that in Elf-years that would be about 21. Therefore, one Elf-year equals about 2.3 human years. This probably isn't right, but it works well enough for my purposes.

Thirdly, it said in the Silmarillion that Aredhel only ever wore silver and white. I've taken some liberties with this because seriously, who would want to wear only white and silver all the time? No one I know, that's for sure…

Fourthly, I know that back in Valinor Galadriel's name was Artanis, but I choose to not use that name because I don't really like it. You all know what I mean anyway.

Fifthly, I realize that Tolkien would probably not approve of a lot of things in this story (summer romances, slang, etc). Well, this is just meant to be fun, not disrespectful, so don't be too mad at me.

And finally, I use everyone's Sindarin names in this because it makes everything so much simpler.

_**So basically, I'm sorry this is so silly, I'm sorry it's so irreverent, I'm sorry it's so un-Tolkien-esqe, and I'm sorry it's not completely true to canon, and I hope you enjoy it and don't take it seriously at **_**all**__


	2. Rich Kids on Holiday

**Chapter 1: Rich Kids on Holiday**

**(In which summer begins, and Maglor shows off a bit)**

"So Malvegil asked me out _again_, and I was like, 'Dude, you are totally not my type. When are you going to give _up_ already?'" sighed Galadriel, kicking her feet back and forth in the warm water by the pier.

"Yeah, Malvegil's a jerk," I agreed. "Want me to beat him up for you?"

Galadriel rolled her eyes. "Aredhel, honey, you've got to stop threatening to beat people up. You sound like a _boy_, for heaven's sakes."

"At least I _can _beat people up," I said. "All you can do is flutter your eyelashes and make stupid guys fall in love with you."

"I wish my eyelashes were as long as yours," Galadriel said absently, completely changing the subject like she always did. "You know, Aredhel, you could be almost as popular as me if you just grew your hair a little and stopped wearing Turgon's old clothes." She pursed her lips and cocked her head to one side. "Well, maybe."

It was a few days into summer, one week after we'd gotten out of lessons for the summer, and Galadriel and I were sitting on the end of the pier at Alqualonde's Luinrilde Beach, where _all _the cool kids hung out. This particular summer I had just turned sixteen and Galadriel was slightly younger, if a lot more experienced (she'd had her first kiss when she was twelve; I'd yet to hold hands with a boy who wasn't my brother). I think we balanced each other nicely.

"Anyway, isn't Malvegil's brother the one whose parents made him stay in Tiron this year because of that incident with King Ingwe's granddaughter?" I asked.

My cousin wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. Pretty harsh, if you ask me. I mean, they were just kissing, it wasn't anything that bad."

I nodded emphatically. Staying in Tirion over the summer _was _a harsh punishment, simply because no one did it. Anyone who was anyone spent the summer at their mansions along the coast by Alqualonde doing nothing. It was an unspoken rule.

"Anyway, I wish Malvegil's brother _was _here," said Galadriel. "He's way cute."

"Do you even know his name?" I asked, laughing.

"Well, no," Galadriel admitted. "But I do intend to learn it! I bet he'd totally go out with me."

"Galadriel, that's ridiculous. Isn't he, like, seven years older than you?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You think that'll make a difference?"

I leaned forward and inspected our reflections in the clear blue water. Looking at perfect, golden-blonde, dark-blue-eyed Galadriel, I had to admit that an older boy would go out with her no matter what her age. She was beautiful, feminine, and pink-cheeked; I, with my dark brown bob, coffee-colored eyes, and almost colorless face, was the opposite. Galadriel insisted that I looked glamorous and dramatic, which I partially agreed with. Dramatic I could manage on a good day. Glamorous? Heck no.

"Nah," I said. "It probably wouldn't. But Malvegil's brother, whatever his name may be, is not here, and if we talk for much longer we'll miss the bonfire."

With a shriek, Galadriel leaped up. "Oh my gosh, you're right! Come on!" She grabbed my hand and we ran back down the pier to the beach.

Every year on this day, us kids would have a bonfire supper at the end of the day—sort of an official-beginning-of-summer thing. It was an extremely important ceremony that you missed at your own peril (not that you'd get beaten up or anything because of it, but because it was so important that everyone who skipped it always felt their summer was lacking something. Also, everyone talked about you a _lot_ if you missed it).

Who were "us kids"? Well, my two brothers and Galadriel's four, obviously. There were also my uncle Feanor's seven boys (who caused at least one interesting scandal every year), some of our other friends from back home, and a few local kids who were delighted to be admitted into our ultra-elite circle for a short time at least. We were an exclusive bunch, us Tirion youngsters. Hey, we were products of our environment.

The fire was already blazing when we got there, and I smiled with familiarity as Galadriel and I sat down. Around the circle, I immediately noticed the following five things:

1. My brother Fingon playing cards with copper-haired Maedhros son of Feanor, his best friend since, like, forever.

2. My geeky, antisocial brother Turgon with his nose buried in a book, as usual.

3. My old Telerin friend Caeriel (her mom knew my mom from way back), shooting Galadriel's nemesis Malvegil flirtatious looks.

4. Malvegil eyeing Galadriel, unaware that Caeriel was giving him flirtatious looks.

5. Maedhros' younger brother Celegorm trying to keep his gigantic grey dog Huan from getting too close to the fire, while Huan sniffed the cooking fish and panted at everyone.

"Hey, check it out," whispered Galadriel, elbowing me. "Maglor's got a new groupie."

I glanced over where she indicated. Sure enough, my cousin Maglor Feanorion (three years younger than Maedhros; three years older than Celegorm; the rebel of the family) was having his waist-length, almost-black auburn hair braided by some random Telerin girl with tanned skin and dark blonde dreadlocks. Maglor noticed us looking at him and grinned.

"Where've you girls been? We thought that you might be skipping out on us, and we couldn't have that. Hey, everyone!" he called to the rest of the circle. "Aredhel and Galadriel are here!"

"Well, _finally_," said Fingon irritably. "I'm hungry, plus this jerk's stripped me of half my week's allowance."

"That's what you get for playing cards with a hotshot like me," said Maedhros cockily. He winked at Caeriel, who stuck her tongue out at him. I didn't see why she couldn't like him instead of Malvegil. Maedhros was cute, in a clean-cut, heir-to-the-throne type of way, and he was kind of nice too, if annoying.

"Hey, I don't know you two!" said the dreadlocked girl who was braiding Maglor's hair, looking at us curiously. She had the distinct, sharp accent of most middle-class Alqualonde kids. "Maglor, introduce us, will ya?"

"'Kay," said Maglor, clearly enjoying the interest of whoever the heck this girl was. He'd been pretty much ignored until he was fourteen, so even thought he was now twenty-two and semi-famous he still loved being the center of attention. "Willa, these are my cousins Galadriel daughter of Finarfin and Aredhel daughter of Fingolfin. Aredhel, Galadriel, this is my friend Wilwaren daughter of Linhir."

"Call me Willa," said Wilwaren daughter of Linhir. It sounded more like an order than a friendly request. Well, with her name, I couldn't blame her. Wilwaren is hard to pronounce.

"Is everyone here?" demanded Fingon. "Because if they're not I don't care, I'm eating anyway. I'm friggin' hungry."

"You can't do that, it'd break tradition!" protested Amrod son of Feanor. He and his twin brother Amras were eleven, so this was their first Bonfire, and they were taking it _very _seriously.

"Yeah, seriously?" said Amras. "You're, like, not supposed to eat until everyone's here?" Amras was an uptalker—everything he said came out as a question. It was annoying, but it helped us tell him and Amrod apart.

"We're all here, we're all here," said Galadriel's brother Angrod. "Let's just eat already."

Huan barked excitedly, and we laughed and dug into our meal of smoked fish, salad, cake, and alcohol. Lots of alcohol.

"Best Bonfire meal I've ever eaten," said Finrod, Galadriel's oldest brother, dreamily.

"You say that every year," Turgon pointed out.

"And with good reason!" said Finrod. "It just keeps getting better. 'S truth."

"Amen!" whooped Maedhros, raising his cup of mead (which I later learned that he'd stolen from his dad's cellar, and got in trouble for it).

"Better enjoy it while you can, older kids," Maedhros' brother Caranthir said darkly. "Pretty soon you'll all be married and too 'mature' to get drunk on a beach with your friends."  
"Shut up, Caranthir," said Fingon. "This is no time to be an annoying pessimist."

"I'll say," said Maglor. "It's the beginning of _summer_, people! We can go back to being pessimistic when we have to go back to our jobs/school."

Willa put a hand on Maglor's shoulder. "Sing something, please, Maglor?"

Maglor shook his head. "Nah, you don't want me to."

"Sing, you jerk, and don't give us any of that false-modesty stuff," said Maedhros fiercely. "We all know you're an arrogant show-off at heart."

"This'll be good," I commented to Galadriel, who nodded eagerly. For a kid from a family that wasn't in any way famous for being good singers, Maglor was, to put it mildly, some kind of musical genius (if you could ignore the fact that almost all his songs were loud, fast, and angry). He'd even been hired to sing at the big festival at the end of the summer, but that requires a bit more explanation which I'm not getting into now.

Maglor smiled self-consciously and pulled out his harp, which had been sitting at his feet (looked like he'd been planning for something like this, the dog). "Okay, but I warn you, I haven't had caffeine in three hours, so I won't sound as good as I usually do." He fingered the stings of the harp and began to sing in his beautiful, sultry voice.

The daylight had completely faded, the stars glowed overhead, and the fire slowly died. Willa looked rather smug, probably thanking the gods that she'd gotten Maglor as her summer fling before anyone else had. I smiled at Galadriel, and she smiled back.

Yep. Perfect first day of summer.

_**Yes, an Elf girl with dreadlocks. Because I said so, that's why. Please review! : )**_


	3. Irritating Society Parents

**Chapter 2: Irritating Society Parents**

**(In which my mother is fussy, and I become more feminine)**

"My goodness, this floor is dirty," said Mom, lifting up one of her yellow high-heeled slippers disdainfully. "It feels like no one's cleaned this house since we were here _last _summer."

"Now, now, Anaire," said Dad calmly. "Don't be finicky. You could hardly expect the house to be cleaned constantly when we're not even here."

"But we got here _yesterday_. They couldn't at least have swept before we came?"

I looked up from my bowl of oatmeal. "My room seemed pretty clean."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Well, Aredhel, you probably didn't look very closely. You've got about as much attention to detail as _Fingon_."

"Where _is _Fingon, anyway?" asked Turgon, looking up from his book (we weren't supposed to read at meals, but Turgon did anyway).

"Probably hung over from last night," I supplied.

"Oh yeah," said Turgon, and went back to his book. Dad shook his head.

"I don't understand these young people," he said. "My friends and I were _much _better-behaved than you three."

"Yeah RIGHT," I said sarcastically. "Grandpa Finwe says that your generation _invented _the whole Bonfire deal."

"Technically, that was your uncle Feanor's idea," Dad corrected. "I was involved, yes, but it wasn't my fault."

"That didn't keep you from enjoying it," said Mom, giving Dad her dreaded nostalgic look. "We met at a Bonfire, remember?"

"Oh, Gods," said Turgon, rolling his eyes. "We've heard this story a thousand times, you guys. Dad turned around and said something to you, and you were so flustered that you tripped over your own feet and almost fell into the fire."

"And you would've been burned to a crisp if Dad hadn't caught you just in time," I added. "We have this _memorized_, Mom."

"Well, all I'm saying is, that's just another way our generations are different," said Mom. "Back then, summer romances _meant _something. We didn't just 'hang out' with someone for a few weeks and then forget about them."

"Not like those two oldest Feanorion boys," said Dad. "A different girl every summer! When I was Maedhros' age I was married and had settled down."

"Well, you know how that family is," sniffed Mom. "Too good for everything and everyone. Why can't they be more like Finarfin's kids? For that matter, why can't Fingon, Turgon, and Aredhel be more like Finarfin's kids?"

"Oh, so now you're saying I'm inferior to Galadriel?" I said. "Thanks, Mom. Real nice."

"Of course I'm not saying that, Aredhel," said Mom tactfully (ha). "But…don't take this the wrong way, dear, but you _could_ grow your hair out a little and wear nicer clothes. Just…polish up a bit."

Turgon snorted. "Like that's gonna happen."

"Wait, that reminds me!" said Mom, ignoring Turgon's comment. "Speaking of clothes, Aredhel, I made you an appointment at the dressmaker's later this morning. You need some new summer clothes, since you've outgrown all of last year's."

"You're not making me come, are you?" asked Turgon.

"No, you're coming sailing with me," said Dad. "Your brother's coming too, if he ever bothers to wake up."

Poor Turgon. He didn't much like sailing, but it was what rich boys did over the summer, and he didn't really have a choice.

"Go upstairs and get dressed!" Mom ordered me. "Your appointment is in fifteen minutes!"

"But I _am _dressed," I protested, indicating the threadbare tunic and leggings I'd stolen from Turgon (hey, at least I wasn't in my nightgown. Give me some credit).

Mom scowled at me. "You _know _what I mean, Aredhel. Go!"

"Yes, ma'am," I said, taking a last bite of my oatmeal and getting up from the table. You just couldn't argue with my mother.

Once up in my bedroom, I sighed happily and sat down in my bed, just taking in the coolness of it all. I loved my room in our summer house. It had been Turgon's, but back when I was still able to I'd threatened to beat him up if he didn't trade me. The room was big, comfortable, and, more importantly, was located in the corner of the house, so I had _two _windows—one overlooking our garden, the other overlooking the path down to the beach. It rocked.

I smoothed down the cherry-red blanket on my bed that I'd gotten from Grandpa Finwe last year when I turned fifteen—his first wife, Miriel, had made it—and went to my closet to find something to wear. A lot of my summer clothes _were_ too small now, just like Mom had said. Stupid growth spurts. At this rate I was going to be taller than Fingon. Finally I pulled on a plain white cotton dress that was getting way too tight in the chest and some old sandals, and went to meet Mom downstairs.

She looked me up and down and shook her head. "_That's _all you could find to wear?"

"Like you said, Mom, I've outgrown all my old clothes," I said. "Come on, let's go. I promised Galadriel I'd meet her for lunch later today."

"All right," said Mom. "Fingolfin, we're going now!"

No reply. Mom rolled her eyes and walked out the door, with me following her.

"Are we walking to town?" I asked, hoping we were. Mom usually made us ride or take a carriage because she didn't want to get dusty. This time, though, she just adjusted her hairpins and nodded.

"Why not," she said. "It'll be good exercise. Besides, we're only about five minutes away."

So we spent five glorious minutes dirtying our dresses by walking on the hot, dusty road, and then the road turned into a cobblestone street and we were in Alqualonde.

Let me say this now: Alqualonde in the summer—at least the way I remember it—was possibly one of the most beautiful things in the world. During the day the sidewalks were warm from the sun and the streets were crowded and bustling, and at night the buildings all seemed to glow in the torchlight, and—well, it was just beautiful. There was a reason all the rich people went there in the summer, you know.

"Ah, here we are," said Mom, pulling me into the dressmaker's tiny store on Pearl Street (we'd sure gotten there fast. I guess I was too distracted by the city's total awesomeness to pay attention to where we were going). "Hello, Narie!" she called as we entered.

Instantly I was hit by the musty smell of fabric combined with some kind of peppermint-y scent. Mom dragged me to Narie's shop almost every year to get new clothes, but my highly sensitive nose never quite got used to that smell.

"Hel-_lo_, Anaire!" trilled Narie the dressmaker, appearing from somewhere in the depths of the shop. "You look _lovely_. And Aredhel! You look so grown-up! What are you now, seventeen?"

"Sixteen," I said.

"Well, you don't say," said Narie, clucking her tongue. "Well, you've gotten to be a very pretty girl."

"Thanks," I said, smiling. Much as I didn't like getting measured for new clothes, I did like Narie. The short, birdlike woman always knew exactly what to say.

"She needs a few summer dresses that are brighter and more, well, _feminine_ than what she usually wears," said Mom. "And she needs them soon. Look at what she's wearing now, for Varda's sake!"

Narie snapped her fingers. "I have _just _the thing! Wait a moment, dears." She disappeared into a back room and came out holding a bundle of scarlet fabric, almost the same color as my blanket. When she shook it out, I saw it was a sleeveless dress with a knee-length skirt and black ribbon along the hem and neck.

"Isn't it perfect?" Narie said. "I made it over the winter for no one in particular, and I'm absolutely certain it'll fit you. Try it on!"

"All right," I said, slipping off my white dress and putting the red one on (it was just us girls, after all, so there was no reason to freak out about changing). When I was done, Mom gasped.

"Aredhel, you look _wonderful_!" she exclaimed. "Narie, do you have a mirror?"

"Of course," said Narie, leading me over to a long mirror hanging on the wall. Looking at myself, I had to say I was pleased. I looked _good _in red. Sure, it was fancier and more colorful than what I usually wore, but that was the point, wasn't it? A girl couldn't wear grey all the time.

"I love it," I said decidedly.

"Good!" said Mom. "We'll take it, Narie. Oh, and she needs to be measured for her new clothes as well."

"All right," said Narie. "Lift up your arms, sweetheart."

I did so, feeling slightly embarrassed as she measured me. For the most part I wasn't an insecure girl, but I was kind of self-conscious about the fact that I was totally flat-chested. Ah, to have that kind of problems now.

Finally the measuring was done, and Mom and Narie started discussing exactly what clothes I'd need, and the price, and how long it would take (Narie said it would be a week at most—that woman worked _fast)_. Me? I stuffed my old white dress in my bag and ran off to find Galadriel. If anyone could appreciate a cool dress like this, it'd be her.


	4. Hot Local Guys

_**Okay, here's Chapter 3, then. Thanks, PipotheFreak, for your reviews—though I'm pretty sure I stated in the author's notes that while I knew that all the characters had different names back in Valinor, I would be using their Sindarin names. Just so you know. : )**_

**Chapter 3: Hot Local Guys**

**(In which I get more attention than Galadriel for once)**

"Oh my gosh!" squealed Galadriel when I met up with her in the town square. "I _love _it! Spin around, I want to see the back."

I twirled around, pleased that Galadriel approved of Narie's gift. Sure, _I _liked it, but a girl always needs a second opinion.

"That is one heck of a dress," said Galadriel, nodding. "See, doesn't it feel better when you actually dress like a _girl_?"

"Yeah, it does," I admitted. "Plus, it's summer—what better time to try a new look?"

"It's hard to believe you don't always look that good," drawled a male voice from behind me.

I turned and saw the cutest boy I'd ever seen on the streets of Alqualonde. He was tall and tough-looking, with broad shoulders, shaggy black hair, and sparkly greenish-grey eyes. For a moment I just stared at him in silence, wondering why this gorgeous guy was talking to _me_.

Galadriel elbowed me. "He's hitting on you, silly," she whispered, quietly enough that only I could hear it. "Say something!"

"Well, believe it brother," I said to the guy. "Usually I look like a total tomboy."

My cousin groaned and slapped her forehead. I must have been supposed to say something less honest.

"And a very attractive tomboy you must be," said the guy, not noticing Galadriel's reaction. "I'm Parmagon. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Aredhel," I said. "Aredhel daughter of Fingolfin."

"Daughter of Fingolfin!" Parmagon exclaimed. "Wow, I'm talking to royalty. Should I be bowing right now?"

"Don't you dare!" I laughed. "I can't stand suck-ups, so if you're one you should probably be talking to Galadriel."

"Galadriel?"

"My cousin," I said, indicating Galadriel. "This girl here. She's pretty much my best friend."

Galadriel gave Parmagon a sweet smile and a half-curtsey, which had made half the boys in Tirion fall in love with her. It didn't work this time, though.

"Nice to meet you, Galadriel," said Parmagon politely, before turning back to me. "I'm meeting some friends for lunch at the Plaza—you girls want to come?"

"_Definitely_!" said Galadriel before I had a chance to say anything. "That'd be _awesome_."

The Plaza was this park (why they called it a plaza I don't know, since it was obviously a park and not a plaza, but whatever) in Alqualonde's ultra-hip West Side, and another essential Cool Kid spot. It was one of those places where you could do pretty much anything you wanted and your parents would never find out, because adults never went there.

Parmagon glanced at me for affirmation.

"Oh, yeah, sounds good," I said, hoping that Parmagon's friends weren't annoying and crude like a lot of the local boys. Not that I had anything in particular against the Teleri, but they were certainly seemed to be less strict with their kids than my people.

When I saw the three boys lounging around on the ground in a corner of the park, I was relieved. They were all sort of scruffy-cute (though not as cute as Parmagon) and didn't look like jerks at all. One of them—a skinny boy with brown hair and freckles—raised his arm in greeting.

"Hey, Parmagon!" he called. "Who've you got there?"

"Hey, Vilyadhol," Parmagon replied. "This here's Princess Aredhel of the Noldor, and her cousin Galadriel."

Galadriel looked slightly miffed at that—_she _was used to getting introduced before me. Well, she could get over it, I thought. She'd been getting more attention than me since she was born; the girl could stand to be in the background for a while.

Vilyadhol whistled. "Wow. And these pretty girls are hanging out with _you_?" He shook his head and turned to me. "See here, honey, a lady like you can do way better than Parmagon here. He's got about as much class as a one-eyed alley cat."

"Grandpa Finwe's cat has only one eye, and I think it was an alley cat before he adopted it," blurted Galadriel, who was obviously desperate to be included in the conversation. "So it's got to have _some _class." She was, of course, making a reference to Tevildo, Grandpa's beloved cat who he'd owned for as long as anyone could remember and hated almost everyone.

"Oh, she got you there, Vil," laughed another boy, this one with short blonde hair and a long nose. He winked at Galadriel. "You're sharp, sweetie."

"Thank you," said a very pleased Galadriel. "So what's your name, anyway?"

"My name's Earello," said the blond boy. He indicated the dark-haired boy next to him. "This is Tyellam, Parmagon's younger brother."

"Hi," I said, and stopped there, not knowing what else to say. Who knew that talking to boys would be this _hard_?

"I'm not surprised Parmagon already knows you two," said Tyellam, grinning. "This boy always meets the cute girls first."

"So are we going to eat anytime soon, or what?" I said. "I'm starved after getting measured for clothes all morning."

"_Aredhel_!" Galadriel hissed. To the boys she said, "Sorry about my cousin, she's spent way too much time around her brothers. I'm teaching her to be more sophisticated."

"No problem, no problem at all," said Vilyadhol. "Don't worry, ladies, we've got ourselves one heck of a picnic here. Come on and sit down."

We sat down on the grass next to the boys, and Vilyadhol pulled out a basket of food and set it down in the center. I picked up a bottle of wine out of the basket and looked it over.

"This looks like good stuff," I said. "You steal this from your parents?"

"Didn't need to," said Vilyadhol. "My parents never notice when their alcohol's missing, and when they do they don't care."

"You lucky dog," said Parmagon jealously. "My parents are strict like no one's business. I'm surprised they even let me hang out with you."

"So what are your parents like?" Earello asked Galadriel.

"My parents are pretty cool," said Galadriel. "They give me a lot of freedom. I guess they could pay a little more attention to me, but I've got four brothers so it's no big deal."

"My parents are really annoying," I said mournfully. "They never pay me any attention, and when they do it's to tell me that I have an attitude problem and that I need to grow out my hair."

"Girl, your hair's hot," said Tyellam. "Don't listen to those parents of yours; they don't know what they're talking about."

"Kid's telling the truth," said Parmagon. "Don't change a thing."

I could feel myself getting redder. For once _I _was the girl who everyone was flirting with! Now that felt good.

"At least our families aren't as dysfunctional as Uncle Feanor's," said Galadriel. "I mean, those guys are _messed up_."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you guys _would_ be related to them," said Earello. "Hey, is it true that Celegorm dyes his hair blond?"

"Not as far as I know," I said. "And Celegorm and me are pretty good friends, so I'd know."

"I hear that Maglor guy rocks pretty hard," said Vilyadhol. "He's singing at Homecoming this year, right?"

The Homecoming Festival was this big deal at the end of summer that celebrated the Teleri's arrival in Valinor. Not that any of us young people really cared what it was about. We just liked the excuse to get drunk and dance around.

"Yeah," I said. "And yeah, he does rock. Problem is, he _knows _it."

We all laughed at that.

"Yeah, you've got some pretty weird relatives," said Parmagon. "But I bet I can top any of your stories. Once my uncle, when he was a kid, got dared to stand on the roof in a storm. He almost got fried by lightning."

"That's _nothing_," said Galadriel. "My brother Orodreth once dove face-down into a shallow swimming hole and broke his nose on the bottom."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that," I said. "But you remember the time when Fingon and Maedhros almost burned down my house and they never told us how it happened? That's _still_ a mystery."

"I can't top any of that," Earello said sadly. "But my sister came home last week with _School Is Pointless _tattooed on her arm, so I suppose that's a bit crazy."

"Yes and no," I said. "It's a bit crazy to get it tattooed on your arm, sure, but everyone _knows _that school is pointless."

"Now that is true," said Tyellam. "Since when do I need to know math or history? I'm from a rich family. I've got a comfortable future pretty much guaranteed. School isn't doing me any good."

"Well, it's good to learn stuff," said Galadriel. "But some of it's just stupid. And there's so much pressure to be all smart and conformed and stuff."

"Conformity is stupid," said Vilyadhol. "Who wants to be like other people? No one, that's who."

"Other people smell weird," declared Parmagon.

"I'll drink to that," I said.

Parmagon offered to walk Galadriel and I back to the town square, where Mom would be waiting for me, but I declined because I didn't want to have to put him through the ordeal of introducing him to my mother and listening to her be all sweet and polite and then lecturing me on the sort of boys I hung out with when I got home. Which I said to him.

"Well, that's okay," he said. "But you have to repay me for it."

"How so?" I asked nervously.

"You have to come to my party this weekend. My parents are gonna be gone, so it'll be pretty wild. My house is the big white one across the street from the Plaza. Promise you'll come?"

"Definitely!" I said, not bothering to think about how I would get my parents to let me go to an unsupervised party being thrown by a boy they didn't know. "Right, Galadriel?"

"Oh, yeah," said Galadriel. "We are _so _there."

In a moment of total boldness, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Parmagon's cheek. "See you then."

_**Something that may interest you: You'll notice that I mentioned Finwe having a cat named Tevildo. Hey, Elves had dogs, so why couldn't a few eccentric ones have cats, too? Also, I stole the name of the cat from Tevildo Prince of Cats from the Book of Lost Tales (that cat was awesome) so it's a good name.**_

_**Review, please!**_


	5. Snobby Royal Types

_**Thanks for your reviews, guys! Sorry for the long delay, I've been crazy busy lately. **_

_**This chapter involves not a lot of plot and a lot of overlapping conversations. So yeah, it's kind of pointless, but it sets the stage for a few things so it's necessary. : )**_

**Chapter 4: Snobby Royal Types**

**(In which Galadriel and I don't pay much attention to the grown-ups)**

"So what did you and Galadriel get up to while I wasn't around?" asked Mom. You could practically hear her thinking, _If you got in trouble I'll rip you to shreds._

"Nothing, really," I lied, shrugging. "We went to the Plaza, got some food, hung out. Did you hang out in the Plaza when you were a kid?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Not much," said Mom. "Well-bred girls weren't supposed to spend much time on the West Side. Earwen managed to drag me there sometimes, though." She smiled nostalgically. "It was always a lovely place, I have to say."

"It still is," I said. "Hey, Mom. Other than Dad, did you ever have any summer romances?"

"Unfortunately, no," she said. "I was always too prim and proper for boys to like me. Again, it was Earwen who got all the attention. She was always so much more—flirtatious than me."

"Yeah, flirtatiousness seems to run in that family," I said. "She'll probably be married by the time she's twenty-two. I probably won't get married at all."

"Don't say that, Aredhel," Mom said, scandalized. "I'm sure you'll find someone to marry. It wouldn't be proper if you _didn't _get married, after all. Everyone gets married."

Okay, how sad is that? That my mom wouldn't want me to get married because she wanted me to be happy, but because it's what everyone else did? It's a wonder I'm not totally traumatized by my childhood now.

"Anyway, I hope you don't have any plans for tonight," said Mom. "King Olwe invited us and Galadriel's family for dinner."

"Why _us_?" I said. "I mean, we're only related to the guy by marriage." King Olwe of the Teleri was Earwen's dad and Galadriel's grandpa. He was a fairly nice guy, but I didn't exactly see much of him.

"Apparently Earwen thought it would be a good idea. And you need to learn to behave better in formal settings."

I groaned. This would _not _be cool. I'd have to sit around and make polite conversation with boring old people while wishing that I was on the beach watching cute boys arm-wrestle. Whose idea were formal dinner parties anyway?

"Do I _have _to go?" I whined desperately.

"Aredhel," said Mom sternly. "You shouldn't have to ask me that. _You are going_. Oh, and wear that dress. You look adorable in it."

_I'm going to run away from home as soon as I come of age_, I thought.

That evening I found myself in my great-uncle-by-marriage's dining room (the small one that was used for family dinners, not the giant one used for _way _formal events), my hair pulled back into a very uncomfortable braid and drinking expensive wine while listening to the grown-ups talk. Actually, they said some pretty interesting things.

"So how have your other grandchildren been?" asked Mom. She was referring, of course, to Aunt Earwen's older brother Quennar's kids, who lived out in the country with their parents and who we hardly ever saw. Aunt Earwen's younger brother wasn't married and spent most of his time traveling around Valinor.

"They're doing fine, last I heard," said Olwe. "Quennar says he's sending Galathil—his oldest, you know—to school in Tiron next year, so you may be seeing some of him."

"I heard that Galathil got caught messing around with the cook's daughter, and that's why Uncle Quennar's sending him away," whispered Galadriel to me.

"You didn't hear any such thing," I whispered back.

"Who says I didn't? Besides, it seems like something that could be true. Galathil is totally that type of guy."

"Oh, that'll be good," Aunt Earwen was saying. "Galathil's a fine boy but he could concentrate a little more on his studies."

"His parents spoil him," sighed Olwe. "Though I suppose I shouldn't talk. I spoiled his father."

"Yes, you did," said Galadriel's grandma Lossiana. "It was always up to _me _to provide the discipline."

This wasn't very interesting, so Galadriel and I went back to our own conversation.

"Do you think Caeriel really likes Malvegil?" Galadriel asked me.

"Oh, I hope not. He's a total head case. She can do so much better."

"But then again, if they got together then Malvegil would leave _me_ alone. It sucks when stupid boys won't leave you alone."

"Well, I _like _it when boys pay attention to me. You just don't like it because everyone's been worshipping you since the day you were born."

"Hey, you're welcome to all the attention I get. Eru knows I don't need it. Though I have to say, _you _were the one being worshipped this afternoon."

"I know. And I _loved _it." I smiled to myself. "Do you think Parmagon really likes me?"

"Duh, of course he does. He wouldn't have asked you to that thing this weekend if he didn't. Speaking of that, how are you going to get your parents to let you go?"

"I'll probably have to lie. Don't worry, it'll work out."

"If you want, we can tell your parents that you're sleeping over at my house. They'll probably believe it."

"What will we tell your parents?"

"We won't have to tell them anything. They don't care where I go."

I sighed. "I'm so jealous of you."

"What are you girls talking about?" asked Galadriel's brother Orodreth, leaning over to hear us.

"Nothing, jerk," replied Galadriel sharply. "Don't you have food to inhale?"

"The food can wait. I want to hear _all _about your latest boyfriend."

"It's not _me, _it's Aredhel who's got a boyfriend."

"Galadriel!" I hissed. "Why did you tell him that?"

"Dude! You've got a _boyfriend_?" said Aegnor, inviting himself into the conversation. "Who?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I muttered, blushing. "He's just some local boy I hung out with for a while today."

"_And _invited her to a party this weekend," Galadriel added.

"He invited _both _of us."

"You got invited to a party?" said Finrod. "Can I come?"

"Well, if I see Parmagon again before then, I'll ask him," I said.

"…so how have you been getting along with that half-brother of yours, Fingolfin?" Olwe asked.

Galadriel and I both immediately shut up. Now _this _was interesting. The dislike between Dad and Uncle Feanor was an ongoing scandal, and no one could figure out exactly why they hated each other so much. It had caused some pretty intense arguments over the years. Not that we ever got sick of it—who doesn't love family drama?

"Not well," said Dad dourly. "We mostly avoid each other. And I must say that it's much better that way. I mean, for heaven's sakes, what is Feanor's problem? I'd be perfectly happy to put everything aside and be friends with him, but he's just too stubborn. And his sons are all just as bad as their father, for the most part. I suppose the oldest two aren't so bad."

"Well, if you're trying to be friendly there's not much else you can do," said Lossiana.

"Yeah, just try not to get into anymore huge fights with him like you did at the Harvest Festival last year," I put in. "I mean, come on, Dad, that was _embarrassing_. It's not cool to yell at your half-brother when there's a huge crowd around."

Dad and Mom both frowned at me. Obviously, they didn't want that particular event to be brought up.

"I remember that," commented Uncle Finarfin. "I seem to remember that I found it somewhat funny at the time."

"Funny? That wasn't funny," said Earwen. "Our family is being torn apart by petty differences!"

"Well, you should take some comfort in the fact that our generation's at least somewhat smarter," Finrod said. "Personally, I don't have anything against Uncle Feanor's family."

"Neither do I," said Orodreth.

"He's totally lying," Galadriel whispered to me. "Orodreth once said that Feanor's kids were a bunch of arrogant arseholes. That boy will do anything to look good in front of adults."

"Which is why he never gets grounded. More of us should follow in his example."

"Nah, not worth it. I'd prefer to speak my mind and get in trouble."

"…you should come riding with Finarfin and me this weekend, Anaire," said Aunt Earwen. "It would do you good. Your children can take care of themselves."

"What do you think, Fingolfin?" Mom asked Dad.

"I think it sounds like a good idea," said Dad. "We could use some time away. You kids will behave yourselves, right?"

I looked at Galadriel and mouthed, _Our parents are going to be away for the weekend?_

She mouthed, _Yeah_.

I smiled sweetly at the adults. "Oh, sure."


	6. Telerin Girls who Worship Musicians

_**This is the chapter where I talk about Maglor a lot, because I love him. I'm sorry but it's true.**_

**Chapter 5: Telerin Girls who Worship Musicians**

**(In which we hang out with Willa)**

So, to sum up, our parents were going to be away for the weekend, meaning that Galadriel and I could go to Parmagon's party without much fear of getting in trouble. The only real problem was that if we did somehow manage to get found out, our parents (especially mine) would never, ever leave us alone again. This, of course, meant that we'd have to be incredibly careful.

But since that wasn't for three days yet, we decided to forget about the future for a while and spend the entire next day lying around on the beach getting tan. I mean, hello, what else is summer for?

Galadriel and I weren't the only ones there—actually, most of our cousins/friends were there, so we could spy on them and talk about them.

"There's Maedhros and Fingon playing cards again," said Galadriel. "Gods, they're pathetic. Both of them really need girlfriends."

"Yeah, seriously," I said. "I mean, the fact that I'm related to both of them aside, they're both fairly good-looking guys. If they weren't arseholes, they could probably get plenty of girls."

"Maybe they're scared of girls," said Galadriel. "I mean, we are pretty confusing."

"But we're _so_ worth it."

"Amen!" She high-fived me, and we went back to sunning.

"So what do you think of that Willa girl Maglor's hanging out with these days?" I asked after a few seconds.

Galadriel shrugged. "She seems okay. I haven't really talked to her or anything, but if she was a total jerkette then Maglor probably wouldn't hang out with her. But what's with her hair?"

"I don't know. Maybe dreadlocks are in style now."

"Blecch!" laughed Galadriel, wrinkling her nose. "If that's what's fashionable then count me out. I _like _having clean hair, thanks."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be a good look for you. Maybe for me, though."

"Aredhel, if you get dreadlocks I will never talk to you again. Just a warning."

"Hey, you two…it's Aredhel, right? And Galadriel?"

I believe there's some sort of law of the universe stating that if you talk about someone behind their back, they will show up while you're talking about them (or making fun of their hairstyle). This was proved when I looked up and there was Willa, standing next to me and giving us a wide grin. Her front teeth were kind of big, I noticed.

"Hey, Willa," said Galadriel, not missing a beat. "Where's your boyfriend?"

She laughed and sat down. "He's not _really_ my boyfriend, you guys. And I don't know where he is. I don't always have to keep track of him."

"If he's not your boyfriend, what is he?" I asked.

"I dunno," said Willa, shrugging. "My musician boy who I follow around occasionally and worship? I'm not really into that whole serious boyfriend-girlfriend thing. I just think Maglor's cool."

"A lot of girls think that," said Galadriel. "Though I've always wondered why."

"Um, hel_lo_?" laughed Willa. "He's royalty, _and _he can sing, _and _he has cool hair and an earring, _and _he's a total bad boy? What girl wouldn't love that?"

Galadriel rolled her eyes. "That's what I thought. What is it with bad boys anyway?"

"Stick it to the man, dude," I said in my best imitation of Maglor's lazy drawl.

Willa shrieked with laughter. "That is _so _him!" She glanced over to where Maedhros and Fingon were playing cards. "Though I have to say, that Maedhros is pretty cute too."

"But he's too perfect," I said. "Aside from the whole occasionally getting stinking drunk thing, he's pretty much your perfect clean-cut prince."

"If only there was a point in between bad boy and perfect boy," said Galadriel.

"Oh, there _is_," I smirked. "And I've already found him."

"Ooh, do tell," said Willa excitedly. "I think I had my first real kiss when I was around your age."

"How old are you?" asked Galadriel curiously.

"Eighteen. But let's not talk about me! I want to hear about this perfect boy of Aredhel's."

I briefly debated whether or not I should spill the details of by newly created love life in front of a girl I barely knew, but then decided it was okay. Willa was nice, and besides, this was _way _too good to keep to myself. Besides, she was two years older than me, and so could probably give me some good, older-sisterly advice.

"His name is Parmagon," I began, "and I met him yesterday when I was in the city. He's _adorable_."

"Parmagon?" interrupted Willa, frowning. "I think I know him. Black hair, green eyes, pushy parents?"

"Yeah, that's him," I said. "You know him? Do you like him?"

"Um…" Willa paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, he's okay. I don't know him too well, but he's pretty popular so he must be fairly cool. Did he ask you out?"

"Kind of," I said. "He invited Galadriel and me to a party he's having this weekend."

"Wow. The guy knows you for ten minutes and he invites you to a party?" said Willa, looking impressed. "He must really like you, then. Parmagon's parties are _really _exclusive. I went to one once and it was _awesome_."

"Ooh, now I'm really looking forward to it," said Galadriel excitedly. "We are _so _lucky that our parents won't be around to say we can't go."

"Tell me everything about it the next day," said Willa. "You guys are going to have _so _much fun."

"Where are they going to have fun?" asked Maglor, appearing next to us from who knows where.

"Hey, bad boy," said Willa, kissing him on the cheek. "Your cousins here were just telling me how they got invited to one of _the _hottest parties in the entire freaking city. It must be great having such cool relatives."

"Really?" said Maglor, sounding interested. "Who's throwing this here party?"

"Parmagon. You know him, right?"

"Sweetie, I know _everyone_," said Maglor. "Parmagon, hmm…yeah, I know him. Cool guy. Kind of a conformist, though."

"I like a little conformity," I said. "At least that way I know he won't be nuts like you."

"Hey!" cried Maglor. "I'm wounded!"

"I thought your ego was un-damageable," said Galadriel. "You _are _a son of Feanor, after all."

Maglor rolled his eyes. "It's always about my old man, isn't it. You know, I didn't ask to be born into this family."

"At least you're genetically cute," said Willa. "_And_ rich. Count your blessings."

"So you're only with me for my money? I should have suspected it. That's all you girls ever care about."

"No, I'm only with you because I'm in love with your brother."

"Which one?"

"All of them."

"That's not _right_, girlfriend. Amrod and Amras are _eleven_."

"Okay, not them. But all the others."

"Can you guys have your little lover's spat somewhere else?" said Galadriel. "I'm trying to get tan here."

"I thought we were being entertaining," said Maglor. "I guess we weren't, Willa."

She pouted. "I don't want to move. I'm too lazy."

"So am I."

"Well, I guess you can stay," I said. "Just shut up."

"That won't be easy, but I'll try," said Maglor. He leaned back on the sand and closed his eyes. A second later we heard him humming quietly to himself. Willa gazed at him adoringly and sighed.

Well, well. Looked like she wasn't all that opposed to having a boyfriend after all.

"What's with you these days?" demanded Fingon later that day, when we were back at home in the sitting room. "You're like, _happy_. And you're dressing all girly."

"I feel like it," I said, opting not to tell the truth since Mom and Dad were right there. "You got a problem with that?"

"Yes, I do. It's out of character. Now I have to get used to you this way, and that'll take work."

"You, my boy, have a very poor work ethic," said Dad. "I think we've spoiled you."

Fingon snorted. "Whatever. I'm the oldest. I'm _supposed _to be spoiled."

"No, _I'm _supposed to be spoiled, since I'm the baby of the family," I said.

"You're both spoiled brats," declared Turgon. "And I'm neglected."

"Poor you. Maybe you'd get more attention if you got your nose out of a book more often."

Turgon thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah. Too much work."

"There's that again," said Mom. "You kids are too lazy. At least Turgon's not as foolish and wild as Fingon and Aredhel. Especially you, Aredhel."

I smiled. If only they knew.


	7. Popular People

_**So, ladies and gents, here we have the party chapter, in which Aredhel gets a bit tipsy and some interesting (but PG-rated, of course) stuff happens. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 6: Popular People**

**(In which the party FINALLY happens, along with a few other things)**

"I wish I knew what to wear," whined Galadriel, standing in front of her closet (which, by the way, was absolutely full of cool clothes that I would have killed to be able to fit into).

Caeriel, who had insisted on helping us get ready, sniffed. "Don't be so picky, Galadriel. For heaven's sakes, you've got more clothes than any girl I know."

"But I still don't have any idea what to wear! If I dress up it'll look like I'm trying too hard. If I dress down I'll look like a slob. This is so _stressful_!"

(Just so you know, Galadriel was always like this—a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. Unlike me, who just threw on whatever fit and went out the door)

"Here," said Caeriel, standing up. "Move aside, milady." She closed her eyes, reached in the closet, and randomly pulled something out. It was a purple silk dress with a long skirt and super-tight sleeves that hadn't been in style since last winter.

"I can't wear that," said Galadriel, frowning. "It's way too dressy, and besides, it's been out of fashion for months."

"That's where I come in," said Caeriel. She pulled a pocketknife out of her bag. "Hand me that dress."

We watched, horrified, as she proceeded to cut the skirt about a foot shorter, slice off the sleeves, and make the neckline a lot lower in the back. When she shook it out and held it up, it looked like a completely different dress.

"Wow, Caeriel," I said, awed. "Has anyone ever told you you're a genius?"

She shrugged modestly. "I just like messing with clothes. I think I might want to be a seamstress when I grow up."

"Well, you'd make an awesome one," said Galadriel. She pulled her black shift over her head and slipped the purple dress on. "This looks _good_. Hey, can you mess with Aredhel's dress too?"

"What's wrong with my dress?" I asked. Personally, I thought my short-sleeved blue dress was cute. It was nice without looking like I was trying to hard. "I think it's cool. Besides, Parmagon will probably like it."

"Boys don't care about what girls wear," giggled Caeriel. "They only care about what's_ under _a girl's dress."

We all cracked up at that.

"No, but your dress is cute, Aredhel. I can't think of a single way to improve it," said Caeriel.

"Sure," snorted Galadriel, "if you call girly and old-fashioned 'cute.'"

"Sarcasm doesn't go with your lip rouge, sweetie," I said.

"Stop arguing, you two," said Caeriel. "Now, are you both ready?"

"Yep," I said, at the same time Galadriel said, "I'm not sure…"

"Yes, you are, Galadriel," said Caeriel. "Oh, this is gonna be so cool! You have to promise to tell me every single detail. If you remember that much."

"Nah, we'll probably be too drunk to remember anything," I laughed. "Come on, Galadriel, let's go!"

It was common knowledge that you weren't supposed to arrive anywhere until about half an hour after the thing started, so we weren't surprised when we showed up to Parmagon's house and there were already quite a few people there. None of whom we knew.

"Okay, now I'm nervous," I muttered to Galadriel.

"Don't be. You're just as cool as anyone in this house." She glanced around. "As far as I can see, at least."

"Well, all I can say is, I'd better find some alcohol soon or I'll be totally antisocial all night."

"That's where I come in," said that one blond boy that had been paying the most attention to Galadriel when we'd been hanging out with Parmagon and Co. the other day… Earello, that was his name. But his name wasn't important. What was important was that he was holding two glasses of wine, which he handed to us.

"You're a lifesaver," sighed Galadriel, taking a sip. "Not that _I _need alcohol to have a good time."

Earello grinned. "Well, let's see if I can help you have a better one." He draped an arm around Galadriel's shoulders, and they disappeared into the crowd.

I rolled my eyes and took a drink of my wine. They'd probably be off flirting and whatnot for a while, which left me without anyone to hang out with. Thanks, Galadriel. Some friend you are.

"Hey," said a black-haired girl I didn't know, walking over to me. "I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"

"Aredhel," I said brightly. "I'm Aredhel. Who're you?"

"I'm Taryna. My sister's going out with Parmagon's brother. So you know Parmagon, then?"

"Yeah, met him a few days ago," I said, taking another drink of wine. "Me and my cousin Galadriel."

"Wow," said Taryna, looking impressed. "He must _really _like you. So how old are you, anyway?"

"I'm sixteen. But I _look _older," I informed her. My head was starting to feel a bit light—that alcohol worked fast.

"Sixteen?" Taryna frowned. "Okay, can I offer you some advice? Watch out around here. There are some total jerk-arse boys here who'll make out with a younger girl and then brag about it to all his friends and never talk to the girl again. And since you're probably the youngest girl here, you might be a target."

"Oh, but I'm not the youngest girl here," I said. "My cousin Galadriel is like six months younger than me, and…oh, crud. Taryna, is Earello one of those jerk boys?"

"Earello? Oh, is that the cute blond boy with the crazy sister? No, he's okay. Most of Parmagon's friends are pretty nice."

I sighed with relief and took another drink.

"Hey, hey, now, take it easy there," said Taryna, taking the wine glass out of my hand. "How much have you had to drink?"

"That's my first glass," I said, reaching out to take it back. "And I'm drinking it _slowly_. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Taryna hesitated for a second, then handed me back the glass. "Okay, but remember, be careful. And whatever you do, don't have more than three glasses in a row."

"I won't, I promise," I said. "Thanks sooo much, Taryna."

She patted me on the shoulder. "No problem, little sister. Have fun!"

So there I was alone again, and to make matters worse, my wine glass was now empty. How was I supposed to have fun with no company and no alcohol?

Well, she'd just said I shouldn't have _three _glasses in a row. Two couldn't hurt.

An hour later I was nicely buzzed from the two glasses of wine I'd just had, and not feeling nearly as shy as I had been. I'd never been drunk before (well, not drunk, exactly. Tipsy is more like it) and I had to say, I enjoyed it. No wonder Fingon drank so much.

I'd danced with a few guys and talked to a few more girls, though quite honestly I wasn't really absorbing anything that was said. Everything seemed to be kind of fuzzy. I did remember not to let any older guys get too friendly with me—I didn't quite remember why, but I knew that I was _not _supposed to do that. Let it never be said that Aredhel of Fingolfin didn't take good advice, even when she was slightly drunk.

"Hey, Aredhel," said a familiar voice at my ear. "Having a good time?" I looked up and there was Parmagon, looking as cute as ever.

"_Hey_, you!" I said, kissing him on the cheek. "I'm having _so _much fun. This is _awesome_."

"Glad to hear it. Do you want to go outside on the back porch for a while?"

Uh-oh. Was I supposed to say yes? Parmagon _was _an older boy, after all. But I could trust him, I knew it. Taryna had said so, hadn't she? Or was she talking about someone else?

"Don't worry, you can trust me," said Parmagon, as if reading my thoughts. "You just look like you could use some air."

I allowed myself to be led out to the back porch into the cool night air. The moon was full, and I could smell the salt in the air from the sea. It was a perfect night.

"This is niiice," I said, leaning against the porch railing. "The moon's _so _pretty."

Parmagon laughed. "How much have you had to drink, exactly?"

"Everyone's been asking me that," I said, pouting. "I only had _two _glasses of wine. And I drank them _slow_. I didn't have three in a row!"

"Well, that's good, at least," said Parmagon. He put a hand on my shoulder. "I like your dress."

"Don't touch me," I said (though I didn't try to remove his hand). "Taryna said not to let any older boys get fresh with me."

"Well, I'm not denying that Taryna's probably right, about some boys," said Parmagon. "But I'm not a jerk, Aredhel. I really and truly like you."

"Oh, you do?" I said. "Want to know a _secret_?"

He smiled. "Do I ever."

I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "_I've never been kissed before_."

"No way," he said, looking shocked. "Why is that?"

"Because boys don't like me," I said. "They're _scared _of me."

"I'm not scared of you," said Parmagon.

"You're not, huh?" I said. "Are you gonna _prove _it?"

"Sure," he said.

Before I knew what was going on, he'd put both his hands on both my shoulders, pulled me close to him, and kissed me.

I remember that kiss to this day. Mostly just random stuff, like how weird Parmagon's mouth tasted—like wine and chocolate and some other stuff I couldn't identify—and how I was worried if my hair looked okay, and how I, for some strange reason, suddenly smelled burned toast (probably that's what Parmagon had had for breakfast—remember, I have an amazing nose).

But the main thing I remember is what I was thinking, which was: _I'm having my first kiss with a guy I barely know, and I'm sort of drunk too. Mom would _kill _me._


	8. Prim Little Mama's Girls

**Chapter 7: Prim Little Mama's Girls**

**(In which we recover from the party, and I hear my mother's Life Story)**

"I can't believe you kissed a boy!" squealed Caeriel when we were over at Galadriel's house the next morning (we'd decided to have a bit of a sleepover after the party). "How'd it feel?"

"It was great," I said. "Oof, I have the _worst _headache."

"Well, I'm not surprised," said Galadriel disapprovingly. "You have got to learn to hold your liquor, girl."

"I had two glasses of wine!" I said. "That's not that much. Besides, it was totally worth it. That was an _awesome_ party."

"Well, I'm just glad you've finally been kissed," said Galadriel. "I mean, sixteen and never kissed? That's just not right, sweetie."

"Hey, I'm sixteen and I've never been kissed," protested Caeriel. "Except that one guy, when I was seven—but he does _not _count."

"Well, maybe if you weren't so cool and aloof all the time, boys would like you better," I said. "You've got to be more open and friendly."

"Wow, check this girl out," laughed Galadriel. "She's been kissed once and suddenly she's an expert on boys."

"Sorry, it's gone to my head," I said. "But I seem to recall that you were like this after _your _first kiss."

"Yet another good reason for me to avoid romance for as long as possible," declared Caeriel. "Besides, if I got involved with a boy, my mom would find out and you can bet your boots she'd kill me."

"But you'd have fun while it lasted," said Galadriel. "Anyway, I'm glad my mom's not as overprotective as yours."

Caeriel sighed. "No one's mom is as overprotective as mine. She's insane. But I don't want to talk about her. How was the rest of the party?"

"Okay, you remember that party that Maedhros threw when he was seventeen and his parents were out of town and everyone got drunk and one of the windows got broken?" I said. "I didn't go to it, but anyway, this party was as good as that one was rumored to be."

"Aredhel," said Galadriel, "has anyone ever told you that you have a very roundabout way of saying things?"

"I come by it honestly," I protested. "My dad says things in a very roundabout way, and so does his dad. It's genetic."

"You can't blame everything on genetics, my dear girl, no matter how hard you try."

"So, Aredhel, are you and Parmagon like boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Caeriel asked, interrupting our argument.

"Huh, I don't know," I said. "That never really occurred to me."

"Well, he only kissed her _once_," said Galadriel sensibly. "That hardly means they're going steady. If he really likes her, next time he sees her he'll ask her out. And if he _really _likes her, then he'll go out of his way to find her."

"That would be _so _romantic if he did," sighed Caeriel.

Galadriel snorted. "Romance is so ten years ago."

"Try telling that to your parents," I said. "Speaking of which, I've got to get home. Mom said she and Dad would probably be home by midday today and I want to get back before them."

"Hopefully they won't be able to tell you've got a hangover," said Galadriel.

"Oh, they won't. Trust me, parents see what they expect to see."

Unfortunately, when I got home, Mom and Dad were just getting home as well. I decided to play it cool and hope they wouldn't suspect anything.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad," I said. "How was the trip?"

"Where are you just getting in from?" asked Dad.

"Me? Oh, I stayed over at Galadriel's house last night. We stayed up pretty late, so I'm tired." I yawned—very realistically, because I _was _tired. There was no denying that.

"All right, then, go and get some sleep," said Mom kindly. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, tons," I said, smiling evilly. "I'm going to go rest now. See you guys sometime this afternoon."

So off to bed I went, and had a very strange dream in which I was lost in this dark creepy forest and couldn't find my way out. But when I woke up, my headache was almost completely gone.

By this point it was midafternoon, so I went downstairs to get something to eat (I hadn't had breakfast _or _lunch, and I was starving). Fortunately, we had some leftovers from what the boys had eaten last night. Aha, Fingon, if you were hoping to eat this mutton for supper, think again.

"Hello, Aredhel. Glad to see your up."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of Mom's voice behind me. "Mom! You scared the heck out of me!"

"Sorry, honey," said Mom. She looked at me and sighed.

"Why are you sighing? Is this about my hair again? Look, Mom, I'm sorry I cut it last winter, but I like it this way. Anyway, it's a lot longer now."

"I'm not going to lecture you about your hair, don't worry. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Ah." For some reason, having a heart-to-heart girl talk with my mom didn't much appeal to me at the moment. "Mom, I appreciate the gesture and all, but I really, really don't want to get into some really long conversation about how much you love me and how you're proud of me no matter what. That's kind of a tired cliché, no offense or anything."

"For heaven's sakes, Aredhel, don't assume things so quickly. My mother never gave me a talk like that, and I'm not going to give it to you. I just think we need to get some things straightened out."

"Well, okay, then," I said. "Like what?"

She sighed again and leaned back against one of the cupboards. "You know, Aredhel, when I was your age, I wasn't nearly as adventurous as you were. I was rather timid and shy and obedient."

I rolled my when she wasn't looking. Here we went, the long flashback to my mother's childhood, where she explained how she became the stiff upper-class ice queen she was today. This would be fun. Not.

"I guess I probably would have remained that way my whole life if I hadn't met your aunt Earwen."

My ears perked up a bit. _This _was slightly more interesting.

"I met Earwen at a Bonfire when I was fourteen," Mom said. "I was instantly jealous of her. She was so blond, and pretty, and outgoing, and everyone was looking at her and hanging onto her every word. I remember wishing that I could be more like her.

"I never expected we'd become friends. Not in a million years."

"How _did_ you become friends?" I asked.

"One day she walked up to me in the street and said that I needed a haircut and she could totally give me one."

I grinned. That sounded very Galadriel. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.

"So she and I started hanging out together, much to my mother's delight—she couldn't have been more pleased that I was associating with a far more outgoing girl than me, not to mention one of royal blood. Earwen taught me that there was far more to the world than doing what I was told and following all the rules." She smiled. "Of course, now that I'm grown up I can't get away with that anymore. But it was fun while it lasted."

"Adults are allowed to have fun," I pointed out.

"Not if they want to set good examples for their children, they don't," said Mom. "Anyway, I don't suppose your father ever would have fallen in love with me if Earwen hadn't shown me how to be more outgoing."

"So how did you and Dad get together, anyway?" I said. "You've only ever told me how you met."

"Well, after he rescued me from falling in the fire, I was too embarrassed afraid to talk to him, so I tried to avoid him the rest of the night. But Earwen could tell that I liked him, and she kept sort of pushing us at each other all night. Finally your father told me that Earwen must know something we didn't and would I like to come to dinner with his family the next day. And I said yes.

"So I went to dinner at his family's house, and I was all polite and on my best behavior, and his parents seemed to like me. It was a great success. But it was what he said afterwards that was surprising."

"What was that?"

"He said, 'Wow, you certainly know how to play the part of the well-mannered good girl. How on earth do you do it? I know it can't be easy.'"

"How romantic and very funny," I said. "I wonder if I'll ever get married."

"Oh, you will," said Mom, patting me on the shoulder. "I don't know if I'll approve of him, though."


	9. Flirts and New Friends

_**Okay, I admit it: Not much has been going on in this story lately. The chapter after this is **_**much **_**more interesting, I promise.**_

**Chapter 8: Flirts and New Friends**

**(In which Galadriel goes fishing, metaphorically)**

"Why hasn't he talked to me yet?" I whined. "The party was a _week and a half ago_. And I know I haven't been around his part of town much, but he could at least _try _to seek me out!"

It was another evening on the pier, and for once the beach wasn't crowded, since it was sort of cloudy and windy outside. I didn't mind. The weather matched my mood. Ten days since I'd had my first kiss and the boy who kissed me seemed to have disappeared off the map.

"Maybe he's still trying to figure out how to talk to you, since last time he saw you, you were drunk and you made out with him," Galadriel suggested. "That can be a bit intimidating to a boy."

"But _ten days_? Come _on_, he can't be that freaked out."

"Well, in that case," my best friend declared, "he's probably a total jerk and doesn't deserve you. I'll tell you what. Tomorrow let's go to the city and meet some new guys. Parmagon and his friends can't be the only cute boys in Alqualonde!"

"Fine," I said, not because I was particularly interested in meeting new guys but because I really, really wanted to get Parmagon out of my head. If this was what love was like, I didn't think too much of it.

The next day Galadriel and I went into town. Galadriel, of course was in top ultra-gorgeous blond-girl form, smiling at everyone and fluffing her hair, and I was once again reduced to her boring brunette sidekick. Which was how I wanted it to be. I didn't feel like getting any attention.

"Aredhel, stop being so depressed," Galadriel ordered. "What's wrong with you? So Parmagon hasn't contacted you in a while. You don't need him. A woman needs a man like a fish needs a horse."

I sighed. "I just don't feel like flirting with anyone today."

Her eyes widened. "Wow. That's serious. Have you talked to anyone about this?"

"Ha-ha. Not everyone's like you, you know."

"Yeah, and I'm glad. If everyone was like me I wouldn't be so special!"

"Special in the _head_."

"That is _such _a Fingon thing to say. You spend too much time around him. At least I have the sense to not be influenced by my brothers."

A boy with curly black hair whistled at us from across the street. Galadriel shot him a blinding smile, and he gestured for us to come over there.

"I think we have a bite, Aredhel," said Galadriel. "Come on!"

"Galadriel, he was whistling at you, not me. And I really don't feel like going and flirting with some boy I don't know."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself."

After Galadriel had run across the street to go talk to Random Whistling Boy, I sat down on a bench and sulked. I was _so _pathetic. Galadriel could get guys to whistle at her on the sidewalk, and I kissed one boy and he never contacted me again. Either I was really unattractive and hopeless, or boys were dumb, irritating idiots who weren't worth two seconds of my time.

"Oh, hey, Aredhel," said a dumb, irritating idiot who wasn't worth my time, walking up to me. As it turned out, it was that boy Malvegil who had a crush on Galadriel. "Didn't expect to see you here?"

"I don't want to be," I said. "I'd rather be at home sulking. But Galadriel had a hankering to do some flirting, so along I came."

He sighed and sat down next to me. "She sure flirts with a lot of people, doesn't she."

"Don't take it personally," I said. "She's just like that. Pretty girls tend to have short attention spans."

"You don't have a short attention span, do you?"

"Dude, I said _pretty _girls have short attention spans. _My _attention span is fine."

"You're actually kind of pretty."

I stared at him.

"Not that I have a crush on you or anything," he said hurriedly. "I just thought you should know that, you know, you're not ugly. You're pretty."

I considered giving him a snide, sarcastic reply, but the truth was that I couldn't think of any. So I just said "Thanks."

Galadriel came back about an hour later, and Random Whistling Boy wasn't with her. Malvegil and I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Where's your new boyfriend?" I asked. "Did you bore him to death by talking about clothes for an hour straight?"

"_No_, I did not, he just had to go meet some friends," said Galadriel. "So what's up with you guys, are you plotting against me?"

"Most def," said Malvegil ("most def" meant "most definitely" and was a new slang term a lot of the boys were using). "We're planning to shove you off a bridge. Know any that might work?"

"Well, there's one over the stream in the park, though I doubt shoving me off it would do much damage since the water's pretty shallow," said Galadriel, sitting down in between us. "And I think there's this fairly big creek out in the country with a bridge over it. That's fairly deep, it might work."

"Then again, pushing people off bridges is so old-fashioned," I said. "It's just gone out of style, you know? We need to find a new way to get back at you for leaving us alone on this bench for an hour."

"We could try hitting her over the head with something," suggested Malvegil.

"Yeah, but what?"

"How about a fiddle? That'd be new, and it'd make a cool sound."

"Okay, you guys are creeping me out now. Stop it," ordered Galadriel. "I'm bored. Let's go get something to eat."

We all got up and went to the town square, where we bought slices of meat pie from a vendor and sat down on yet another bench to eat them. It was pretty fun—we joked around and made fun of everyone who passed us. Galadriel didn't even seem to mind Malvegil's company, and he barely even noticed her.

"Hey, check out that girl's dress," commented Galadriel. "Does she think it's winter, or what?"

Malvegil groaned. "Do we _have _to talk about clothes? I know you girls love that, but I don't."

"Hey, don't stereotype, man," I said, punching him. "I don't care about clothes _that_ much. I only pretend to because all the females in my family are obsessed with them."

"Some of us act more feminine to avoid being like our brothers," said Galadriel. "Aredhel turns _into_ her brothers."

"We all have our ways of dealing," I said. "And I'd rather be a tomboy than a shallow ditz." I ducked as Galadriel aimed a slap in my direction. "I'm just kidding, Galadriel! Relax!"

"Yeah, violence isn't the answer, G," said Malvegil. "At least not for girls. Us guys can get away with it."

"G," said Galadriel thoughtfully. "I actually like that nickname."

"Good, because I'm never calling you Galadriel again. That name has _four _syllables, G! That's, like, three too many."

She giggled. "You're seriously funny, Malvegil."

I frowned at her, recognizing the look on her face. "G, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," she said. "Excuse us, dude. Girl talk time."

I led Galadriel out of Malvegil's hearing range and let her have it. "What on earth do you think you're doing?" I hissed.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Galadriel, you are _not _going to make that poor boy another one of your victims. He really, really likes you, and I know you're only going to break his heart like you always do. Stay away from him."

"Do you like him, or what?" asked Galadriel.

"No, I don't like him like _that_, but I do like him as a friend. And friends don't let friends get hurt by other friends."

"Sheesh, Aredhel! Stop being so paranoid! A bit of harmless flirting never hurt anyone."

"I _beg _to differ," I said. "You see, G, I've had the pleasure of talking to a few boys who you've 'harmlessly flirted' with. And those were not fun conversations to have, let me tell you. Honey, I love you and all, but you can be kind of an evil heartbreaker sometimes. So I think you need to swear off boys until such a time as you can stay with one for more than two seconds."

She sighed. "You've got a point. Can I confess something, Aredhel?"

"Please do. Someday I may be able to use it to blackmail you."

"Okay, the reason I've been acting all weird lately and flirting with so many guys is…" She took a deep breath. "I really like that guy Earello, and I'm not sure if he likes me at all. It's like with you and Parmagon—it seems like he's avoiding me."

"Ohhh," I said. "Well, that explains it. Tell you what we'll do: tomorrow we'll come back into town and seek out these errant crushes of ours. A good confrontation will set things straight."

"Excellent idea," said Galadriel. "Shall we be getting back to that poor boy who really, really likes me, then?"

"We may as well," I said. "He seems to be the only boy we can trust anymore."


	10. Awful Older Boys

**Chapter 9: Awful Older Boys**

**(In which Parmagon shows his true colors)**

"Willa," I said, "what do I do if I like a guy and kissed him but now he's not talking to me and I haven't been able to find him anywhere?"

"Who'd you kiss?" said Willa. "And do you want me to beat him up for you?"

Ah, another person who threatened to beat boys up. This Willa was a girl after my own heart, even if she did have dreadlocks.

"Um…I kind of kissed Parmagon at his party," I said. "Don't tell anyone."

"Whoa," said Willa. "On the first date? You know how to work 'em, girl."

"You didn't answer her question," said Galadriel. "What should she do about Parmagon?"

Willa shrugged. "Just chillax for now. Parmagon's like that, he gets caught up with his friends and stuff. And his parents might not like him getting involved with a younger girl."

"How old is Parmagon, Aredhel?" Galadriel asked me.

I shrugged. "Search me. We never really got past the whole 'You're cute.' 'Let's kiss' bit of dialogue."

"He's nineteen," Willa supplied.

"Nineteen? Wow, way to _go_, Aredhel," said Galadriel, looking impressed. "I never thought you capable of scoring a boy four years older than yourself."

"Sweetheart, I'm capable of many, many things," I said. "Never underestimate one of Fingolfin's kids."

"You go, girl," said Willa, high-fiving me. "Anyway, so yeah, if Parmagon doesn't contact you in the next week or so, go find him and kick his butt because we girls do _not _have to take crap from boys. Not even if they're cute."

"So where's your boy, anyway?" I said. "Haven't seen him around for a while."

"Ah, I think he had a gig last night," said Willa. "So he's probably got a hangover and is still in bed. Poor guy."

"I guess that's a hazard of hanging out with a BOM," said Galadriel.

"BOM?" asked Willa.

"Badass Overpaid Musician," I explained. "It's a term Maedhros came up with."

Willa laughed her weird shrieky laugh. "That is _so _perfect. Man, you Noldor are all so good with words."

"Hey, are you being racist?" I demanded.

"No, darling. I'm making a generalization based on my observations over the years. I'm totally allowed to do that."

"Uh-oh, Aredhel, she's using big words. I don't think we can argue with her now," said Galadriel, grinning.

"Hey, I'm hungry," I said. "Do you guys want to come back to my house for lunch?"

"Would your parents tolerate having me in the house?" said Willa. "From what you've told me, I don't think I'm their type of girl."

"They'll get used to you," I said. "And if not, at least they'll pretend to so they can avoid being rude."

"Ooh, you have to come, it's so fun to watch Aredhel's mom squirm," said Galadriel. "Please?"

Willa shrugged. "Okay. Hey, I love watching adults squirm as much as the next person—why do you think I got these dreadlocks in the first place?"

We continued to talk about Willa's dreadlocks all the way to my house. Galadriel wanted to know how she'd gotten her hair to do that (she said she just separated it into sections and then stopped brushing it) and what her parents thought (they were glad she was finally showing a bit of normal teenage rebellion—they were very big on that kind of thing). I wanted to know what her hair was like normally and what she'd do if she ever got sick of her dreadlocks.

"My hair is normally kind of curly, so that's why it was easy to get it all matted," said Willa. "As for what I'd do if I got sick of it, I guess I'd just cut it short and let it grow back."

"You're so brave," said Galadriel. "I haven't done anything with my hair in years."

"Well, I can see why," said Willa. "Your hair is seriously pretty, and I'm sure your parents and relatives and random guys are always telling you that, and you're afraid to mess with it because you know everyone will get on your case. It was like that for me too. Remember this, though: It's just hair. It grows back."

"Huh," said Galadriel. "Maybe I should dye mine purple."

"Ooh, do it!" I said. "You'd look great with purple hair. Hey, we're home!"

I opened the door, and we went in to the kitchen. Mom was in there overseeing the preparations for lunch.

"Hey, Mom!" I said. "I brought a couple friends home for lunch. Is that okay?"

Mom turned around and appeared to jump a little when she saw Willa. "Aredhel! Who's this?"

"Oh, this is my friend Willa," I said. "She's Maglor's sort-of girlfriend."

"Oh," said Mom. She had that distasteful, I-don't-like-the-looks-of-you-but-I'll-pretend-to-because-I-am-a-society-lady look on her face. I glanced at Galadriel and smiled.

"Well, of course you can stay for lunch, girls," she said brightly after a somewhat awkward silence. "Do you mind eating in the kitchen, though? You see, I'm having a few of _my _friends over for lunch, and it just might be more fun for you guys if you stay out here."

"No problem, Aredhel's Mom," said Willa brightly, throwing herself down into one of the chairs by the kitchen table. "Mmm, is that chicken salad? Looks delish."

Galadriel and I grinned at each other again. Why had we ever made fun of Willa?

By Willa the Wonderful's advice, I waited for another week before going into town to find Parmagon and kick his butt. Because seriously, seventeen days? No nice guy waits that long to contact a girl if he really likes her. So I grabbed Galadriel and into town we went.

"Wonder what he'll say," I said.

"I have no idea," said Galadriel. "But remember, anything he says can be twisted to give you an excuse to dump him. Woman's code."

"Ooh, this'll be fun," I laughed.

But to be quite honest, I wasn't looking forward to it at all. Actually, I was totally scared. What would Parmagon say? Would he say that he never really liked me and that he just kissed me for the bragging rights? Would he say that his parents didn't want him hanging out with a younger girl and so he couldn't see me anymore? Would he even be home?

I worried myself sick all the way into town before remembering what Willa had said about girls not needing to take anyone's crap. If Parmagon was a jerk, it was his fault, not mine. All I'd done wrong was get tipsy and make a move on him.

"Sheesh, Aredhel, you're quiet," said Galadriel. "Nervous?"

"Yeah, G, I'm worried," I said. "I know I shouldn't be, but what if he says something totally mean?"

"In that case, you can beat him up," said Galadriel. "I officially give you permission."

"Well!" I said. "That certainly makes me feel better. C'mon, let's kick some boy butt."

We walked on down to the West Side in a much lighter mood, making up crazy excuses as to why Parmagon was ignoring me. Galadriel said he'd lost a bet with a friend and as a consequence couldn't talk to girls for twenty days. I said he'd gotten whacked on the head with a fiddle (as a tribute to Malvegil's suggestion about what to do with Galadriel) and couldn't remember who I was. I said we'd have to whack him repeatedly to get his memory to come back.

"That's a good plan," said Galadriel. "Even if your theory isn't true."

As we neared the Plaza, I spied a group of familiar-looking boys sitting around drinking wine. _Yes! _It was Parmagon and his friends! Now I wouldn't have to knock on his door and risk an embarrassing meeting with his mother.

"Hey, guys," I said, approaching them confidently. "Hey, Parmagon."

He looked surprised to see me. "Oh, hey, Aredhel. Didn't expect to see you around."

"Well, I was in the neighborhood, and I hadn't seen you guys in a while so I decided to say hi…" I was trying to sound casual, but my palms were all sweaty and my heart was beating _really _loud. I hoped he couldn't tell.

"Yeah, sorry I haven't talked to you for a while. I guess our paths just haven't crossed," he said, smiling.

Just as my brain started working overtime (_He's not being mean to me! He likes me! He's not a jerk!_) Tyellam said, grinning, "Hey Aredhel, is it true you kissed Parmagon at the party?"

"Um…yes," I said, not knowing how he knew that but not wanting to lie. "Why?"

"What are you talking about, you weirdo?" said Parmagon. "I never kissed you."

_Wait. What?_

"Yes, you did," I said, trying to remain calm. "Don't you remember?"

"I don't remember anything like that. I do remember that you were kinda tipsy, though. Maybe you're thinking of someone else."

I stared at him in horror. What the heck was wrong with this guy? I _knew _I'd kissed him, and he knew it, yet here he was denying it.

"Never mind," I muttered, turning away. "Let's just go, G."

She put her arm around me as we walked away. "It's okay, Aredhel. The first boy is always the hardest."

"I can't believe he'd just deny it like that," I said, starting to tear up. "What did I do wrong?"

"You didn't do _anything_ wrong, remember? He's just a jerk. You'll get over him."

"It's not just that he turned out to be a jerk," I sniffed. "It's that he made me look like a liar in front of his friends. I can't _stand _that."

Galadriel didn't say anything. She just patted me on the back as I stood in a corner of the park, crying.


	11. Broken Hearts and Boyfriends

_**Come on, people, review! You haven't given up on me, have you? : (**_

**Chapter 10: Broken Hearts and Boyfriends**

"Hey, Galadriel, wait up!"

Galadriel and I looked over our shoulders and saw Earello running toward us. My cousin rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Hey," said Earello breathlessly, once he'd caught up to us. "Galadriel, can I talk to you?"

"Aredhel, do you hear someone talking?" asked Galadriel. "I don't. I think it must be a bug."

"Galadriel, come on, don't be like that…"

Being incapable of ignoring anyone for too long, Galadriel whirled around to face him. "Look, Earello, your friend over there just broke _my _best friend's heart. I really don't think you should be talking to me. And besides, people call me G now."

"Galadriel…I mean, G, I didn't have anything to do with what Parmagon said. I don't know if I believe him or not. If he did kiss you, it was pretty mean of him to say he didn't, and even if he didn't, he didn't handle it well. I'm sorry about what he said to you, Aredhel. But G, I really like you!"

I could see her melting. She obviously had it bad for this guy.

"I don't know, Earello…" she said.

"Come on, G," he begged. "I'm desperate. What can I do to prove it to you?"

That sealed the deal. If there was one thing Galadriel loved, it was when a guy groveled to her.

"Oh, fine," said Galadriel. "If you want to prove you like me, then you can leave us alone for a few minutes while I comfort my friend, and pick me up to go out to dinner later tonight."

Only Galadriel could score a date on the same day that I (for all intents and purposes) got dumped. Sigh.

Earello nodded eagerly and ran back to join his jerk-ass friends. Galadriel sat down with me on the grass and put an arm around my shoulders. "Talk to me, girlfriend."

Call me petty, but I did _not _want to talk to Galadriel when she'd just gotten a new boyfriend and I'd just gotten rejected. It would be torture, of that I was sure.

"Know what, G?" I said, standing up. "I don't really want to talk right now. But by all means, have fun on your date."

And I got up and left.

I spent most of the rest of the day crying in my room. Mom and the boys came up and tried to talk to me every so often, but I just ignored them and kept the door locked. This wasn't something I could talk to my family about, especially since I'd never told them about Parmagon in the first place.

It just didn't make _sense_. Why would he say something like that? If he was going to be a jerk, he should have done it properly by bragging about kissing me to all his friends and then dumping me. He shouldn't have _denied _everything. What kind of guy did something like that?

To be honest, by this point I didn't even care that Parmagon obviously didn't like me. I _did _care that he'd humiliated me in public. I _did _care that he was so cowardly that he couldn't face up to kissing a girl like me. And I _did _care that for once in my life I'd actually felt worth something, like boys could actually find me attractive, and then Parmagon had to go and destroy that. _That_ was what got me.

And that was why I was miserable.

"Aredhel, come out of there," said Mom softly at my door. "You can't just stay in your room crying all summer."

"What's the _point _of coming out?" I cried. "The world _sucks_! The world sucks, and Alqualonde sucks, and summer sucks. I _hate _it here!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Aredhel," said another voice—my dad this time. "We've been coming here for years and you've never complained about it once. For goodness' sakes just tell us what's wrong."

"Nuh-uh. Not going to."

"Aredhel?" That was Fingon. "Can you tell me what's wrong, if I promise not to tell Mom and Dad?"

"Fingon!" said Mom.

"Well, she obviously doesn't want you guys to know, and I'm not going to make her tell you. Aredhel?"

"Okay," I said. "But Mom and Dad, you have to step away from the door. Actually, go downstairs. And no eavesdropping."

I could hear Mom sigh. "Right. Come on, dear."

They left, and I unlocked my door to let my oldest brother in. "Okay, let's get this over with. But _you _have to promise not to tell Maedhros."

"Why would I tell him that? He's not interested in your dumb girly problems. The only reason I'm in here is because I'm sick of you bawling."

"Gee, thanks." I sat down on my bed. "The deal is…well, I met this guy the day Mom dragged me off to get new clothes and he was really cool and I liked him and he seemed to like me and then he invited me to some party of his over the weekend Mom and Dad were gone so Galadriel and I went and then I got kind of drunk and made out with the guy and then he didn't talk to me for ten days so I went to find him and then he said that he never kissed me and that I was crazy and now I'm really sad and I kind of also want to kill him."

"Whoa," said Fingon. He shook his head. "_Whoa_. No wonder you didn't want to tell our parents that. Alcohol, making out, getting dumped…you're turning into a first-rate bad girl, Aredhel. I can't deny that I'm proud."

"Thanks," I said. "So what should I do about this guy?"

"What does he look like, and what's his name?"

"His name's Parmagon, and he's got black hair and green eyes and looks like he works out a lot."

"Well, then," said Fingon, "if I see this guy, I'll beat him up for you. In the meantime, just chillax. If he's a jerk he's a jerk. Some dudes are like that."

"Chillax," I said thoughtfully. "Is there a reason everyone's saying that these days?"

"Dude, it's the word of the week! Get with it!" He slapped me on the back and got up. "I gotta run. Hang in there, sis."

"Thanks," I said. "And if Mom and Dad ask about this…"

"Tell them it's none of their damn business. Gotcha. See you around!"

I leaned back into my pillows and smiled. Occasionally, my brothers proved that they were actually people, capable of intelligent thought.

Occasionally.

I was feeling a bit more content with things, so I decided to go for a walk down to the beach. If nothing else, I might see a couple of my friends there.

There weren't a lot of people at the beach today—mostly a few local kids or people from Tirion I didn't talk too that much. I had no idea where Galadriel was—probably getting ready for her date. I was about to give up and go back home when something caught my eye. Or rather, somebody. Two somebodies.

It was Malvegil and Caeriel.

They were sitting together down by the water and laughing their heads off like they were old friends. As I watched, Caeriel put her hand on Malvegil's leg and kissed him on the cheek.

_Well_!

Either Malvegil was much smarter than I'd give him credit for, or Caeriel was one heck of a flirt. And either way, it would be interesting to tell Galadriel about this.

"Malvegil and Caeriel?" said Galadriel when I went over to her house the next day. "That's so funny. I guess he got over me quick."

"I thought you'd be at least a little upset," I said. "I mean, it's never fun when a guy who's obsessed with you gets a new girlfriend."

Galadriel shrugged. "I don't really care what Malvegil does. I'm in _love_!"

"You're always in love."

"Aredhel, stop being so cynical! I am really, truly in love. I think Earello might be the one."

"Well, don't marry him just yet. You're only fifteen."

"I won't, I won't," she said. "But please, Aredhel, can't you act the slightest bit happy for me."

"I _am _happy for you. It's great you've found a boy you like so much. I'm just warning you to be careful. Relationships can deteriorate quickly."

"I will," said Galadriel. "Thanks for looking out for me, Aredhel." She gave me a hug, and I hugged her back.

"What else are friends for?" I said.


	12. Immature Half Brothers

_**Wow, I can't believe I kept you guys waiting so long for another chapter—I'm so sorry! Here's chapter 11.**_

**Chapter 11: Immature Half-Brothers**

**(In which Dad doesn't act his age)**

One thing I've learned is that in my life, drama is inevitable. I can't avoid it. No matter where I am, drama will always find me.

With that cheery bit of information, let us continue with the story.

I'd been slowly getting over getting dumped, little by little, though it wasn't easy. Galadriel had been right when she said the first boy was always the hardest. In fact, I doubt that I'm completely over him even now.

But I did have one thing to look forward to: There was a feast coming up. And not one of those boring formal feasts with no dancing and no interesting conversation, but a fun one. With _free food_. (Which, in case you haven't heard, is the meaning of life).

So I managed to break out of my shell for a day to break out of my shell and go to Galadriel's house to get ready with her and Caeriel.

"Aredhel!" cried Caeriel when I arrived. "I thought you might not come!"

"Sweetie, I'm not _that_ brokenhearted," I said. "Who can resist a feast?"

"_I _can," muttered Galadriel. "I've eaten so much over these past few weeks that I can barely fit in my favorite dress anymore. Why can't I lose weight?"

"Because if you lost any more weight you'd starve to death?" I suggested.

She seemed to like this. "Okay. Come on, let's go upstairs!"

This time, I was the one who got an altered dress. Caeriel took one look at my pale yellow dress and declared it too mom-ish to exist.

"But I'll forgive you, sweetie, if you take it off right now and let me fix it," she said. "Just because you got dumped doesn't mean you have any right to dress horribly."

I love my friends. Have you figured that out yet?

When Caeriel was done, the skirt on my dress was way shorter, the neck was way lower, and the sleeves were shorter and puffier. It was _very _girly. Caeriel, I had to admit, was brilliant.

"There," she said. "There's not a boy in Alqualonde that'll be able to resist you in this. Except maybe Parmagon, and who likes him anyway?"

"Girls, can you do me a favor?" I said. "Don't mention Parmagon. At all. I just can't handle it."

"Sure, honey," said Galadriel kindly. "Let's talk about Earello instead! Will he love me in this dress or what?"

"Of course he will," I said. "Because he'll be too busy looking at your butt to pay attention to what you're wearing. Don't hit me! I'm telling the truth!"

"'Scuse me, but Earello is _not _like that," said Galadriel. "He's a gentleman."

"Well, I suppose he can't be as bad as some guys we know, if what he said to you after the…incident is any indicator," I admitted. "Fine, I'll stop making fun of your boyfriend, Galadriel."

"_Thank_ you."

"Girls, shut up. I need help!" said Caeriel. "I don't have _anything _to wear!"

"You can borrow something of mine," suggested Galadriel.

We stared at her.

"_What _did you just say?" Caeriel asked.

"I said you can borrow something of mine," said Galadriel. "What's the big deal?"

"Galadriel," I said. "You never let _anyone _borrow your clothes. Never."

"Well, I'm in love, so I'm being stupid," she said decidedly. "Enjoy it while it lasts, darlings."

Caeriel squealed and immediately started pawing through Galadriel's closet until she found what she wanted—a dark red dress with a ton of embroidery on the skirt. She put it on and twirled around. "What do you think?"

"Wow," said Galadriel. "I can't believe that fits you."

"Um…thanks?"

"You look great, Caeriel," I said. "Even better than Galadriel. I'm _kidding_, Galadriel! Sheesh!"

"You are so lucky to be alive right now," said Galadriel. "Remember that."

"I will, I will. Let's just go, okay? We have to meet up with your parents in about five minutes."

"Well, _I'm_ ready," said Caeriel. "I don't know about you guys."

"I'm ready," I said. "G?"

"One second," said Galadriel. She inspected her reflection in the mirror, fluffed her hair, and twirled around. "Okay, _now _I'm ready."

"You're such a girly-girl," I said, as we left Galadriel's room to meet up with her parents, who were taking us to the feast.

"Of course I am, darling. That's why boys are less scared of me than they are of you."

"I like scaring people. It makes me feel good inside."

"I'm not scary or girly," said Caeriel. "What does that make me?"

I shrugged. "Normal?"

"No one's normal," said Galadriel. "Even the most ordinary person has something weird about them."

"G," I said. "You totally stole that from Maglor."

"Shut up."

"All ready, girls?" said Aunt Earwen when we met up with her and Uncle Finarfin in the entrance hall. "You all look lovely. Don't they, Finarfin?"

"If I say yes, can we leave?" asked Uncle Finarfin. "I've been waiting to go for the past half hour. I don't know what it is about you women."

"We're very critical of ourselves," Galadriel explained. "But yes, Daddy, we can go now. I'm hungry!"

"Hmm," I said as we left the house and headed on our merry way. "Could that be because you hardly ever eat?"

"I eat! I just don't pig out like you do."

"You guys fight too much," said Caeriel. "Hey, G, where's your brothers, anyway? Haven't seen them around."

"Ah, they're coming later, I think," said Galadriel. "I don't really keep track of them."

"Too bad," said Caeriel. "I like Finrod. He's like an older sister, except he's a dude."

"I'm totally telling him you said that."

"Ooh, do it!" I said. "And make sure I'm around."

"Girls, we're here!" trilled Aunt Earwen. "Go off and have fun, but make sure you get back within an hour!"

The feast was on the beach, where a bunch of long tables were set up. There were a ton of people there, some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn't. I grinned. This was _exactly _what I needed. Who cared about boys? I had my girls and I got free food. Nothing else was important.

Galadriel and Caeriel and I loaded up our plates with food and then wandered around a bit to find somewhere to sit. We ended up sitting with this extremely cool Telerin girl with bright pink hair (she said that her aunt was a weaver who dyed her own cloth, and she just used the dye on her hair) named Melania.

"So I'm actually from Deep Lake, which is this boring little hick town twenty miles south of here, but I only go there, like, twice a year," she said. "I live here most of the time. Alqualonde rocks."

"That's cool," said Galadriel. "Yeah, we love Alqualonde too. It's so crazy here."

"Isn't it? I'm trying to get my parents to move here so I never have to leave."

"_Melania_!" yelled a familiar voice. Maglor appeared (seemingly out of nowhere—how did he _do _that?) and sat down next to us. "Girlfriend, where have you _been_? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hey, Hotshot," said Melania. "I was just talking to your cousins. You've got a cool family."

"That's what they tell me," said Maglor. "Guys, did she tell you why she's weird yet?"

"She has pink hair?" I guessed.

"She's from some tiny hick town?" said Galadriel.

"Nope," said Maglor. "_She can't remember anyone's names_. The only name she can remember is her own. That's why she gives everyone nicknames."

"Wow," said Galadriel. "That _is _weird. No offense."

"None taken," said Melania brightly. "Hey, I forgot to give you guys nicknames! Okay, blond girl, you're Temptress, and brunette girl, you're Scarlet. Does that work?"

"Works for me," I said. As far as nicknames went, Scarlet wasn't half bad. It was at least better than my brothers' nickname for me, Freak.

"How do you guys know each other?" Galadriel asked.

"Oh, we go way back," said Maglor. "I spent an entire year here when I was fifteen, and Melania made sure I didn't spend the year as a loner weirdo."

"Yeah, and I'm also the only girl in Alqualonde who isn't in love with him," said Melania.

"Why _aren't _you in love with me?" asked Maglor.

"Ick," said Melania, wrinkling her nose. "Sorry, but we just know each other too well. It'd be like being in love with your brother."

We all laughed, except me. It sounded like there was some shouting going on somewhere behind us, but I couldn't tell who it was.

"Hey, guys," I said. "Is there a fight going on over there?"

"A _fight_?" said Maglor, standing up quickly. "Gods, if one of my brothers is in it, I am going to _kill them_."

We all got up and went over to the argument, to see who it was. When we did, Maglor and I both groaned.

"You're _trying _to turn my father against me!" yelled Uncle Feanor.

"He's my father too! And you're practically controlling him!" yelled my dad.

"Oh, man," I muttered, shaking my head. "Oh, man. Are we related to them?"

"Hell no," said Maglor. "'Scuse me, I'm going to do something about this." He pushed through the crowd and stepped between our dads.

"Hey, Dad," he said conversationally, stopping his father mid-yell. "You want to shut up now?"

"Stay out of this, boy," snapped Uncle Feanor. "This isn't your fight."

"Since when? This is my family, and I think I have a right to step in if two members of it are arguing for absolutely no reason."

"We aren't arguing over nothing," said Dad. "You wouldn't understand this, you're too young."

"Too _young_?" said Maglor. I'd never seen him look this pissed before. "Too _young_? Uncle Fingolfin, I'm twenty-two. That's old enough to know stupidity when I see it. Why are you guys always fighting? Since when is being half-brothers insanely horrible? And if you do have to argue, _please_ don't do it in public. I don't want people to look at you guys and think that this is what everyone in our family is like. We're not all assholes, you know, and you're giving us a bad reputation."

Everyone stared at him.

"So just shut _up_!" Maglor finished, and stomped away.

"Wow," said Melania. "Did he just…?"

"Yes," said Galadriel.

"Most def," I said.

"Wow," Melania said again, shaking her head. "Who'd have thought Maglor would turn out to be twice as mature as two adults put together?"

That was what the rest of us were thinking.


	13. Paranoid Women

**Chapter 12: Paranoid Women**

**(In which I get in major trouble, and another party ends in drama)**

"Guys, I'm having a party, and if you don't come I'll kill you," declared Willa on the beach the next day.

"Wow," I said. "I'm scared."

"Oh, you should be," she said, staring me right in the eyes. "Be _very_ scared."

"Shut up, Willa," said Galadriel. "We'll totally come."

"Um, I don't know," I said. "I have bad experiences with parties."

"Come on, Aredhel, you can't let one bad experience turn you off," said Willa.

"It wasn't just that!" I protested. "Remember your seventh birthday party, G? How I threw up on your dad's feet?"

Galadriel screamed with laughter. "Oh my gosh, I'd forgotten about that! That was so gross."

"And there was the time when you dragged me to some party when I was thirteen and didn't know anyone's names and spent the entire time hiding in a corner," I said. "That was extremely painful."

"Don't worry about this party," said Willa. "It's just a bunch of my friends, and they're all seriously cool. No players, no snobs, no nothing. I hope you don't mind a little weirdness, though."

"Nah, I'm used to weirdness. I _am _from the house of Finwe, after all."

"Excellent. So I'll see you there," said Willa. "And tell that Caeriel girl to come too, I like her. Where is she, anyway?"

"Making out with her new boyfriend," said Galadriel. "They're _so _cute together."

"Speaking of which, where's _your _new boyfriend?" I asked. "Haven't seen him around lately."

"Yeah, I think he's been working a lot," said Galadriel. "Either that or he's cheating on me. If it's the latter, I can always kill him."

"That's my girl," said Willa, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't let a boy mess around with you."

"I'd hate to see what would happen to the boy that messed around with you," I said.

"I'd dump him," Willa said. "And quite possibly beat him up, too."

"Is Maglor aware of this?" asked Galadriel.

"Oh yeah," said Willa. "Anyway, it's in three days at my house. Be there." She got up and left.

"I feel sorry for her future husband," I said.

"If she ever gets one," said Galadriel.

"G, that's mean. What about Maglor?"

"Aredhel," said Galadriel. "When was the last time Maglor stayed with a girl for more than two weeks?"

"Um…good point."

"Yep."

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked. "I'm sick of sitting around on the beach. It gets kind of old after a while."

"Ooh, I know," said Galadriel. "Let's go explore you guys' summer house! I bet your mom has a ton of stuff stored away in the attic that she doesn't want you to see."

"What makes you say that?"

"Simple logic. If your mom has stuff she doesn't want you to see, she won't hide it in the house you live in for most of the year. She'll want to put it in the house you only spend a few weeks at. I know how parents are, my dear girl."

"Okay," I said. "Let's go."

"I've never been up here," I commented, as Galadriel and I cautiously entered my attic. Compared to the rest of the house, this place was insanely dusty and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in centuries.

"It's a treasure trove," said Galadriel. "Just look at all this stuff!"

"Yeah, I had no idea all this was up here," I said. "Mom's quite the pack rat, it seems."

"Oh my gods," said Galadriel, pointing to a corner of the room. "Oh my _gods_, is that your mother's wedding dress?"

I looked where she was pointing and gasped. "Oh my gosh, it is! I've never seen it in person before!"

My mother's wedding dress was legendary. Rumor had it that it cost more than the rest of her wedding put together, and it was the most expensive dress anyone in our family had ever worn. Now, if I'd spent half my dad's fortune on a dress, I'd have worn it as much as I could, but Mom only wore it once and then, apparently, locked it up in the attic of our summer house. I'd only seen it in the portrait of her and Dad at their wedding that was in our living room back in Tirion.

"It's _gorgeous_," said Galadriel in awe, rubbing the dark blue velvet between her fingers. "I can't believe your mom only wore this once."

"I know," I said. "It's, like, the awesomest dress I've ever seen."

"I bet it would fit you," Galadriel said.

I stared at her. "G. You can't possibly be suggesting what I think you are."

"Oh, come _on_, Aredhel!" Galadriel begged. "It's only been worn once in its entire life. No dress this cool should have to suffer that indignity. Just try it on for two seconds."

"But what if Mom…"

"She won't find out, I promise. And if she does, I'll take all the blame. Come on, you'll look beautiful."

I sighed. "Fine. But only because I want to say I've worn half my grandpa's fortune."

"That's what I'm talking about!" said Galadriel. I quickly undressed, and she handed me the gown. My heart was beating like crazy as I slipped it on.

"Oh," said my cousin. "_Oh_."

"Is it that bad?" I asked, cringing.

"_Bad_?" said Galadriel. "_Bad_? Aredhel, look at your reflection _right now_."

So I did, in the old mirror that was leaning against the wall.

"Wow," I whispered.

I didn't look ugly.

I didn't look normal.

I didn't even look pretty.

I looked _beautiful_.

"You look exactly like your mom," said Galadriel. "Except way less snobby."

"I can see why this dress was so expensive," I said, staring at my reflection. "It's, like, the ultimate in fancy dresses."

"Curtsey," ordered Galadriel. "You're a fine lady now, you can pull it out."

"Why, of course," I said, sweeping her a deep curtsey.

"_What on earth are you girls doing_?"

I stood up straight again, only to find myself face-to-face with my very angry mother.

"Mom!" I said. "What are you doing up here?"

"The door to the stairs was open. I wanted to see what was going on. And now I find you wearing my _wedding dress_!"

"I wasn't hurting it!" I protested. "I was just trying it on! Galadriel suggested it."

"Is this true, Galadriel?" Mom demanded.

"Yes, Aunt Anaire," Galadriel admitted. "But just _look _at your daughter! Isn't she beautiful?"

"That is not the point, Galadriel," snapped Mom. "This dress almost as much as this house did. I don't want it damaged!"

"We weren't damaging it!" I said. "I tried it on, for heaven's sakes! It hasn't been worn since your wedding! How could we possibly damage it?"

"I don't want to take any risks! Do you realize how valuable this dress is?"

"Oh, come on, Mom. You're overreacting. I didn't hurt it."

"How do you know that?" hissed Mom. "Take it off _right now_, Aredhel. And consider yourself grounded for the rest of the summer."

I quietly took off the dress and handed it to my mother. "Sorry, Mom," I said as I got my old dress back on.

"You had better be. And Galadriel, your parents will hear about this."

Galadriel looked at me sadly. "Sorry, Aredhel. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Yeah, whatever," I said, shaking my head. "It's okay."

This was shaping up to be the worst summer of my life.

Three days later I was sitting in my room at ten o'clock at night, picking at my nails and wishing I could go to Willa's party. I'd really been looking forward to it, if only because I wanted to see what Willa's friends looked like. Most likely a lot of pierced eyebrows and dyed hair.

Something hit my window.

I walked over to said window and looked out of it. Galadriel was standing on the ground below, dressed completely in black—if it hadn't been for the lamp she was holding and her distinctive halo of blond hair I wouldn't have been able to see her at all.

"G!" I hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Making it up to you!" she replied. "Come on, we're sneaking out. If you're going to be grounded for the rest of the summer you need one more night of fun."

"G, I can't. What if my parents find out?"

"Aredhel, you're already in trouble! Your parents can't get any madder! Besides, it's not that likely that they'll find out. Aren't they both asleep by now?"

"Well, yeah."

"So let's go! We're swinging by Caeriel's place to pick her up, too. Get dressed and meet me down here."

"Okay," I said. After all, what did I have to lose?

I slipped on a black velvet dress that I hardly ever wore but seemed appropriate for this kind of party and tiptoed down the stairs and out the door. Galadriel hugged me, and we went off into the night.

Caeriel was delighted to see me.

"Aredhel, I'm so glad you came! Aren't you worried about your mom finding out, though?"

"Nah," I said, shrugging. "She's already mad at me. How much more could she do?"

"Man, you're brave," said Caeriel. "All right, let's party!"

Even if Willa hadn't given us her address, I would have known which house was hers right away. It was the loudest place on the block. People were yelling, someone was playing the fiddle, and I thought I heard glass breaking.

"Mom would kill me if she knew I was here," I said.

"Well, she doesn't know, now does she?" said Galadriel. "But Aredhel, try not to get drunk this time. It tends to not have good results."

"I won't, darling. Now let's go inside."

Willa herself met us at the door, looking slightly tipsy and even wilder than usual—her dreadlocks were hanging down her back and she was wearing a ripped-up black tunic that was too big for ehr. "Hey hey _hey_, girlfriends!" she yelled over the noise. "Come on in! I thought you weren't going to make it!"

"Nope, we're here!" said Caeriel. "Got any food?"

"Are you _kidding_? Of course we've got food! It's on the table in the living room. Help yourselves!

Not needing to be told twice, we went over to the food table to stuff our faces.

"Hey, there's Maglor," I said, indicating my cousin, who was sitting on the couch across the room. "He looks kinda bored."

"And is that that freaky pink-haired girl who can't remember anyone's names?" asked Galadriel. "Dude, it is! What a coincidence."

The freaky pink-haired girl—Melania, or whatever her name was—sat down next to Maglor and said something to him. Maglor smiled and said something back. And then Melania kissed him on the cheek.

"_Whoa_," said Caeriel. "Did she just do that?"

"Uh-oh," I said. "I think Willa saw."

Sure enough, Willa stomped over to Maglor and pulled him sharply to his feet. She hissed something in his ear and half-dragged him out of the room.

"Come on," said Galadriel, starting to follow them. "I am _not_ going to miss this."

We followed Galadriel out of the living room over to the door by the back porch. Maglor was standing on said porch getting told off by his girlfriend.

"You _asshole_," Willa snapped. "I leave you alone for two minutes and you start making out with some other girl?"

"Dude, I wasn't making out with her. She kissed me on the cheek. And I've known her for ages, she's like my sister!"

"Well, you didn't exactly seem to _mind _her kissing you on the cheek."

"What was I supposed to do, slug her? She was just being friendly."

"Oh, yeah, _friendly_. I know how it is when girls are _friendly _to you." Willa's voice cracked—she sounded really upset. "Am I just supposed to worship you and let you get away with anything you want because you're famous and hot? Is that what you're used to?"

"Willa, come on, you know I really, really like you…"

"But you don't love me. You never loved me. I'm just another summer fling, another groupie, aren't I. You don't care about me. You only care about yourself."

"Willa…"

"Shut up, you asshole." Willa stomped away from her ex-boyfriend, not noticing Galadriel and Caeriel and I hiding by the door and listening.

In a moment of boldness, I stood up and went to talk to Maglor. The poor guy looked completely in shock.

"Hey, man," I said. "I'm not going to pretend I wasn't listening, so I'll just ask you this: What _was _that?"

"Well, I'm not sure," said Maglor, "but I think I may have just gotten dumped."

"Whoa, harsh, dude," said Galadriel, joining us on the porch. "Just for Melania kissing you on the cheek?"

"Yeah," said Maglor. "I guess she has a point, though. I'm not exactly a committed guy. But I've _never_ cheated on any of my girlfriends, you can bet on that."

"Well, I believe you," said Caeriel. "You seem like a nice guy, not the type who'd cheat on his girlfriend."

"Thanks, honey." Maglor tossed his hair and grinned. "Well, I'll survive. I always do. Catch you ladies later." He walked back inside, presumably to get drunk and hit on various girls.

"That was weird," said Galadriel.

"You said it," I agreed. "Willa was telling the truth when she said she'd get back at any guy who messed with her."

Caeriel yawned. "Guys, I'm actually getting kind of tired. All drama-ed out, to be precise. Anyone want to go home?"

"Okay," I said. "G?"

"Fine," sighed Galadriel. "Killjoys."

I snuck into the house around eleven-thirty, trying to be as quiet as possible. Turns out I didn't need to.

"Care to explain what you're doing coming home at this hour, Aredhel?" asked my dad.


	14. Jerks

**Chapter 13: Jerks**

"Aredhel?" Dad repeated. "Where were you?"

"Um…at Galadriel's house?" I tried.

"Aredhel, don't lie to us," snapped Mom. "If you were just going to Galadriel's house, you wouldn't have had to sneak out in the middle of the night. You could have just asked me."

"I didn't want to wake you," I protested. "You would have been mad."

"Well, I'm much madder now, young lady. Come over here."

I complied, and she sniffed the air around me. "Just as I thought. You smell like alcohol, doesn't she, Fingolfin?"

"That she does," said Dad. "You were at a party, weren't you, Aredhel."

"But _I_ didn't drink," I said, and then realized I'd blown my cover.

"That isn't important," snapped Mom. "What's important is that you went out in the middle of the night, _while_ you were grounded, to a place where there was alcohol! This is _not _acceptable, Aredhel!"

"Wait a minute, how can you yell at me for being where there's alcohol when I always have to go to feasts and stuff with you guys and there's always alcohol there?" I asked.

"That's different," said Dad. "You kids don't know how to drink responsibly."

"Oh, yeah, and you were being real responsible the other day when you got drunk and yelled at Uncle Feanor. You think I couldn't tell? Heck, Dad, I act like less of an idiot than you when I'm drunk and I can't hold my liquor at all!"

"I thought you weren't drinking," said Mom as Dad stared at me in shock. "When did you get drunk?"

"At some other deal. That's not important. What's important is that you guys are both _hypocrites_!"

"That's enough out of you, Aredhel," said Dad coldly. "Go to bed now. Your mother and I will decide what your punishment's going to be."

"It couldn't be much worse than living with you," I muttered, and ran upstairs, not caring if I woke up my brothers. Hopefully I'd wake up the whole household. Then they'd be just as sleepless as me.

I woke up the next morning around seven o'clock, which was a good deal earlier than I usually woke up during the summer. Hopefully Mom and Dad were awake and could tell me my punishment as soon as possible.

They weren't awake, and so I made myself a cup of tea and sat down to wait for them. After about ten minutes I fell asleep again and was woken up an hour later by our cook.

"Miss Aredhel," she said. "Your parents are waiting for you in the living room."

"Thanks," I said. "Do they look mad?"

"Not exactly, my dear. Mostly they look…stern."

Huh. Stern. Well, I could handle stern. Heck, my parents were always stern.

I cautiously entered the living room, where my parents were sitting on the couch. Yeah, they did look stern. But not much more than usual.

"What's my punishment?" I asked.

"Sit down, Aredhel," said Mom. I did so.

"Now, here is what we've concluded," said Dad. "You've been spoiled. You lack work ethic and responsibility. Admittedly, your mother and I are somewhat to blame for this."

"That's good," I said. "But you didn't answer my question."

"We've decided not to punish you by taking something away from you," Dad continued. "That's been tried, and it didn't do much good. Instead, we're going to make you work."

Suddenly I was scared for no good reason. "How so?"

"Your uncle Feanor," said Mom, "is looking for a maid. Their old one got married and left. So for the next year, you'll live with them and work for your keep."

"Will I get paid?"

"Of course you will," said Dad. "But not very much. And it'll be all you have to live on."

"You're kidding," I said. "Right?"

I looked at their faces. They weren't kidding.

"Fine," I muttered. "Excuse me."

I got up and walked upstairs to my room, remembering how I'd told my parents no punishment they could come up with could be worse than living with them. Leave it to them to find the one punishment that was.

"Ah, it's not that bad," said Fingon, who I told about the punishment later that day. "Sure, Uncle Feanor's family is kind of chaotic, but all in all they're not that bad. Which you should know."

"It's not that, exactly," I said. "It's that I'm being humiliated here, and I have to be humiliated in front of my _family_. And it's a part of my family I'm not that close to."

"Hey, don't worry. You'll be fine," said Fingon. "You're tough, you can handle it. And I'll tell Maedhros to look out for you."

"Okay, now I'm scared," I said.

"Dude, I'm telling him you said that."

"Go ahead. He can't beat me up, I'm a girl."

"Hey, why is it that girls can hit guys, but guys can't hit girls?"

"Because guys are tougher, I guess. Or at least that's the stereotype."

"Ah, stereotypes. What would we do without them?"

"Be a lot happier."

"That's probably true."

"Well, I'm going to go break the news to Galadriel now," I said. "Thanks, Fingon. You don't totally suck as a brother."

"Thanks. And you don't totally suck as a sister, either."

"Yes, I do. But thanks for lying." I stood up and went to go tell Galadriel of my exile.

As it turned out, she was having some problems of her own.

"Earello and I went out yesterday and he had someone else's hair stuck to his shirt," she wailed. "I think he's cheating on me, Aredhel!"

I shrugged. "Well, I have to work as a maid for Uncle Feanor's family for the next year. Who's worse off here?"

"You have to _what_?" gasped Galadriel. "Oh my gods, that _sucks_! What are you going to do about school?"

"I think they've got a tutor for their kids. Dad will work something out. You know how he is about education."

"Do I ever," said Galadriel. "Wow, that is way worse than Earello cheating on me."

"Speaking of which, we should probably try to catch him in the act. That way you can have the fun of dumping him, and I can watch."

"You're weird. Did you know that?"

"Normality is for the weak, sweetie. Now let's go catch your boyfriend."

Of course, being fairly new to this whole catching-your-boyfriend-cheating thing, we didn't have much of an idea as to where to start. Eventually we decided to go over to Earello's house and see if we could trick him into giving something away.

"What is it with these Alqualonde boys?" I asked. "You can never trust them. They're always up to something."

"It's the salty air," Galadriel said. "It damages your brain."

"So what are you going to do if you find out he's cheating on you?"

"Probably act cool to his face and then cry in private," said Galadriel. "I probably won't hit him, though. We can't all be Willa."

"And thank goodness for that," I said decidedly. "No offense to her, but she's, like, insanely paranoid."

"I know. She's got a point, though—you've got to be careful when you're going out with one of Feanor's kids."

"How would _you_ know? Got experience in that field?"

Galadriel rolled her eyes. "_Very _funny, Aredhel. Anyway, shut up. We're here." She went and knocked on the door of the house we were standing in front of.

There was a long pause, during which I thought I could hear some urgent talking inside the house, and then the door opened. It was Galadriel's supposed gentleman of a boyfriend, with his hair messed up and his shirt halfway unbuttoned.

"Oh, um, hi, G," he said. "This…isn't really a good time…"

"Yeah, I can see that," said Galadriel stiffly. "Busy, are you?"

"Earello, honey, who's at the door?" a girl's voice from inside.

"No one!" Earello called. He started to close the door. "Sorry, G."

"You _suck_!" yelled Galadriel. She grabbed my arm. "Come on, Aredhel, let's get out of here."

I nodded, and we walked back to our houses, both single women once again.


	15. Rebound Guys

**Chapter 14: Rebound Guys**

**(In which Willa makes a poor choice)**

"What a summer we've had so far," I remarked to Willa when I was at her house the next day (Galadriel was at home being brokenhearted, and Caeriel was on a date). "I got dumped, you broke up with your guy, and Galadriel's cheated on her. And now none of us has a boyfriend."

"Actually…" said Willa. "I do."

I stared at her. "Who? Did you and Maglor get back together?"

"No, obviously not! But close," she said.

"_Who_?"

Willa giggled. "His brother."

"Which one?"

"Maedhros. Duh! He's the only one of them who's as hot as Maglor."

"You're dating your ex-boyfriend's older brother?" I said incredulously. "Willa, did you think this through?"

The look on her face proved to me that she hadn't.

"Oh, come on," she said. "Do _you _always think everything through? Of course you don't. And Maedhros was so sweet to me after the breakup. I have to give him a chance."

"Sure you do," I muttered under my breath. Out loud I said, "Well, Willa, if you really like him I guess that's all that matters. But be careful, okay? Maedhros isn't much better at commitment than Maglor."

"Right, right," said Willa. "Oh, man, is that the time? I gotta go to work. See you around, Aredhel." Willa worked at a bar downtown. She said it wasn't the greatest job, but at least it gave her something to do since her parents were never at home. And I knew perfectly well that her shift didn't start for another hour, but I also knew she wanted to get rid of me. Because _she _knew that I was right.

"All right then, I'll be off," I said, standing up. "Think about what I said, okay, Willa?"

"Of course, of course," she said dismissively. "Thanks for worrying, honey."

This, I thought as I walked home, definitely meant trouble. Couldn't Willa have waited a little longer before going out with her ex-boyfriend's brother? It was just in poor taste to do it this soon. And she could lie about liking Maedhros as much as she wanted, but I could tell she was only doing this to make Maglor jealous. It was totally obvious.

Well, I'd have to talk to Maedhros himself. Not that he'd listen—he still treated me like a little kid and ignored everything I said—but I could try.

I found Willa's new boyfriend at his family's summer house in his room (his brother Curufin was kind enough to show me there). Fortunately, the door wasn't locked, so I stormed in.

"Hey, loser," I said. "I need to talk to you."

"What do you want, Aredhel?" asked Maedhros irritably. "It must be pretty important, for you to bust in my room like this."

"Oh, it is," I said. "Do you realize how tacky it is to start going out with your brother's ex-girlfriend two days after they broke up?"

"I don't think that's any of your business, Aredhel."

"Actually, it _is _my business. Both Maglor and Willa are my friends, and you're not, so I think I have a right to intervene on their behalf."

"Whatever," said Maedhros. "She hit on _me_."

"Right. Like I believe that. Look, I'm not telling you to break up with her— it's too late for that. But for heaven's sake, don't be an asshole about it, okay?"

"Fine, whatever," said Maedhros. "Are you going to go now?"

"Not quite yet. First I have to ask you something. Did you hear I'm going to have to spend next year living with you guys?"

"You _what_?"

"Not only that, but I have to work for you too," I said. "My parents' idea of a good punishment."

"That sucks," said Maedhros. "For you and me both."

"I'll say," I agreed. "Excuse me, I have to go to Galadriel's house now and talk about how lame you and Willa both are. See you around."

"Yeah, you too. Now get the hell out of my room."

I did so, and walked over to Galadriel's house to see if she was done being brokenhearted yet.

"Hey, Finrod," I said to Galadriel's brother, who answered the door. "Is Galadriel around?"

"Yeah, she's around, but she's bummed, man," said Finrod. "Apparently some dude cheated on her."

"That he did," I said. "Can she talk to me?"

"Probably. Have fun trying."

I went upstairs and knocked on Galadriel's door. "G? Are you okay?"

"Aredhel?" came the weak reply from within. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Sure. Hope you don't mind that I'm depressed."

"Well, I'm pissed off, so we'll probably be good company for each other." I entered her room and sat down on the bed, where Galadriel was lying and looking like she'd been crying a lot. "Wow. You _do _look depressed."

"And you look pissed. Why _are _you pissed?"

"Let me ask you a question before I answer that. What would you call a girl who broke up with a guy and then started going out with his older brother?"

"I'd call her a tramp and him sleazy," Galadriel replied. "Why?"

"Because that's what's recently been going on with a good friend of ours. Guess who."

"Willa?" guessed Galadriel.

"Yes, her. Well done. Apparently she's going out with Maedhros now."

"What? Is she _insane_?" Galadriel cried. "How could she do that?"

"That was my question. But she wasn't seeing reason at all. And Maedhros wasn't much help either."

"You talked to Maedhros? Why? You must have known he wouldn't be any help."

I shrugged. "Search me. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Guy's an asshole," muttered Galadriel. "Ah well. What can we do?

"Blow everything way out of proportion and spread it around?" I suggested.

"I like how you think, young lady. Think Caeriel's home yet? We should go talk to her."

"Are you _kidding_?" cried Caeriel when we told her the news. "That's not even _right_. I mean, who even _does _stuff like that?"

I shrugged. "Who knows what she was thinking? My theory is, she's trying to make Maglor jealous."

"That makes sense," Caeriel agreed. "Either that, or she just has a really hard time imagining life without a boyfriend and can't not have one for more than a few days."

"Speaking of which, how are things going with Malvegil?" Galadriel asked. "Is he treating you right?"

"He hasn't cheated on me or denied my existence, if that's what you're asking," Caeriel replied. "In fact, I do believe I'm the only one of us who ended up with a _nice _boy this summer."

"Poor us," I said. "I only wish there was some way I could get back at Parmagon. I mean, he freaking broke my heart. He should pay."

"Yes he should," said Galadriel. She thought for a moment, and then snapped her fingers. "And I know exactly what you should do."

"What?" I asked.

"What?" asked Caeriel.

"He humiliated you, correct?" said Galadriel. "In _public_. In front of your friends—well, in front of me, anyway. Seriously embarrassing, right?"

"Um…yeah. So?"

"So, you should do the same to him," Galadriel said eagerly. "Humiliate him in public, in front of his friends. He'll be so pissed, maybe he'll admit to kissing you."

I nodded. "Yeah, I like the sound of that. So what do I do to humiliate him?"

"Tell the truth," said Caeriel. "Guys like him can't stand that."

"But I told the truth before. It didn't work."

"That's why," said Galadriel, "you need to yell."

Later that night I thought over what had happened that day…and for the past several days as well. Why did I get my first kiss and get dumped, and then everyone else's relationships started to fall apart as well? Was I a bad influence or something? Or maybe all relationships were crappy and I just hadn't noticed it until now.

"I hope I never get married," I muttered. "My husband will probably end up being a jerk. I'm better off alone."


	16. Brave Girls

**Chapter 15: Brave Girls**

I woke up the next morning with a purpose. Today I was going to humiliate the crap out of Parmagon, thus finally getting my revenge.

Briefly I wondered if he even would remember who I was, but decided that if he'd forgotten me I'd _make _him remember.

"You look determined," commented Turgon at breakfast. "Planning on torturing small animals today?"

"Well, I am planning on killing a rat," I said coolly.

"_What_?" said Mom, looking horrified.

"It's an expression, Mom," I assured her. I didn't tell her what for. Fingon knew what I was on about, though, and high-fived me.

"Good for you, Aredhel," he said. "There are some rats that just need killing."

"I don't understand a word these kids are saying," said Mom to Dad.

Dad shrugged. "I gave up on understanding them years ago. Don't worry about it, dear."

_That was lucky_, I thought. I didn't think Mom and Dad would _quite _approve of my plans for the day.

Actually, my first plan of the day was parent-approved, and in fact parent-ordered—packing. Summer would be over in five days, and since I had a lot of stuff it would take a while to get it all packed up.

Unfortunately, the good majority of my possessions wouldn't _be _in my possession this coming year. I was only allowed to take the basic necessities with me to Uncle Feanor's.

"You need to learn to live like an ordinary person," was Mom's logic. "Most working-class girls don't have even half the luxuries you have!"

"Hey, wait a minute," I said. "You and Dad never learned to live like ordinary people. You've lived in luxury all your lives. Why do I have to be any different?"

"So history doesn't repeat itself, that's why," snapped Mom. "Now enough talking. Get to work!"

I rolled my eyes. Parents can be _so _hypocritical.

We continued packing for the rest of the morning, sorting all my belongings into Take and Don't Take piles. The Take pile was considerably smaller. Sigh.

"Hey Mom," I said. "Will you miss me next year, when I'm not around?"

"Aredhel, how could you even ask that? Of course I will!" She shook her head. "Sometimes it's so hard raising teenagers…you feel like you can try everything and they'll still hate you. Aredhel, please understand, I'm not trying to hurt you with this punishment! I'm trying to help you! I don't want you to grow up like I did, materialistic and spoiled. I want you to be better than that. And this is the only way I know how to help you."

I stared at her. "Hold it. Back up a bit. Mom, _what _was that?"

"I don't want you to be like me!" cried Mom. "I want you to be smart, and brave, and everything I can't be because I grew up rich and boring! Aredhel, I need you to be absolutely nothing like me." And with that, my perfect, dignified mother burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I said softly. "I'm sorry you hate yourself, and I'm sorry I haven't been much of a daughter. I'll go through with the punishment. I want to."

She looked up at me and smiled. "Thank you, Aredhel. I think I'll go and rest for a while. We can finish packing tomorrow." She got up and left, and I sat down on my bed and stared at my red blanket.

I knew that later when I saw Mom again, she'd pretend this whole thing had never happened. But at least now I knew why she was the way she was. And at least I understood why she'd freaked out so bad about her wedding dress.

That afternoon I finally got off my butt and went off to go yell at Parmagon. I'd been putting it off long enough.

I went alone. I guess I could have asked Caeriel and Galadriel to go with me, but I didn't. This was something I had to do by myself.

While I walked toward the city, I reviewed what had happened so far this summer in my head. I'd kissed a boy and then he'd dumped me, Malvegil fell in love with Galadriel and then in love with Caeriel, Galadriel found a boyfriend who then cheated on her, Willa broke up with her boyfriend and then went out with his brother. And then I got forced into servanthood for going out when I was grounded.

Sheesh. I never thought school would be more relaxing than vacation.

_At least now I'm resolving one problem_, I thought. _I can finally get back at Parmagon for what he did to me. No boy has the right to humiliate a girl like that._

I found Parmagon and his friends hanging out around the Plaza, as usual. Before approaching them, I took a few deep breaths and reviewed what I wanted to say. Yep. Perfect. I could totally do this.

"Hey, Parmagon," I snapped, stomping over to him. "I've got something to say to you."

Parmagon laughed nervously, a kind of oh-look-it's-the-girl-I-made-out-with-and-then-humiliated-and-hey-guess-what-she-looks-mad kind of laugh. "Hey, Aredhel. What's up?"

"Look, loser," I said. "I'm so sick of this stupid game you're playing. I don't care if you like me or not, that's not what this is about. What it's about is you making me look like a jerk in public when we both know that I'm not. I kissed you, and you know it, and so do I, so just act your age and admit it!"

"Ok, already!" yelled Parmagon. "I kissed you! Whatever! Are you going to beg me to be your boyfriend now, or what?"

"No," I said. "I'm not. Because I can do better than you, and I know I will. Now shut up, I have to yell at Earello."

"Hey, what'd I do?" Earello protested.

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that you cheated on my best friend, when she totally adored you. What were you thinking, anyway? Galadriel's a great girl! You never had it so good!"

"Maybe I'm just not a one-woman guy," said Earello. "Did that ever occur to you?"

I shook my head sympathetically. "Too bad. Keep acting like that and you'll end up a no-woman guy. Poor you. And as for the rest of you, I don't know you very well but I'm sure you're all a bunch of self-centered arseholes. Have nice lives!"

_And that's that_, I thought, walking away from the boys and smiling. How good was I?

Because I felt like I needed to, before I went to talk to Galadriel and Caeriel about what I'd just done I went to talk to Maglor. Don't ask me why. I just hadn't talked to him in a while, and I wanted to see what he thought about his ex-girlfriend going out with his brother.

I found him sitting at the beach, staring at the water and looking bored. "Hey, man," I said. "I assume you've heard the news."

"Which news?" he replied, without looking at me. "The news that my ex-girlfriend is now going out with my brother, or the news that you're working for us now?"

"Um, both, I guess," I said. "Do you mind the me-working-for-you-guys part?"

"Nah, I guess not. It's okay. I mean, it's not like it's your fault."

"Exactly. But if it's any comfort, with this new job I probably won't end up being a total snob like my mom. She said that herself."

"Did she now?" said Maglor, looking amused. "Good for her. I always had a sneaking suspicion that your mom was made of glass, actually. Didn't know she was capable of admitting her faults."

"You and me both. I guess we were wrong."

"Yeah." Maglor shook his head. "Parents are weird, you know? You can never tell what's up with them. Like my dad. I've never been able to figure out if he just plain hates me, or if he's secretly proud of me, or if he just forgot I existed ten years ago. My dad is a very confusing guy."

"I think he's proud of you," I said. "I mean, what parent wouldn't be? You're rich, famous, and talented, not to mention that you're a total girl magnet. And you scored the best gig of the summer. You ready for that, by the way?"

"Girlfriend, I was born ready," said Maglor. "Actually, my mom says I was born pissed off, but who cares which it is?"

"How true," I said. "Well, if it's any comfort, I think you and Willa make a way better couple than Willa and Maedhros."

"Obviously. Maedhros is a conformist loser. Don't tell him I said that, though."

"Don't worry," I said. "I won't. Have fun and stuff."

"Yep. You too."

"Don't tell me to do anything," I ordered Galadriel when I got to her house and threw myself down onto her bed. Caeriel was already there, and was braiding Galadriel's hair.

"Well, we weren't planning to, but why do you say that?" asked Caeriel.

"Because I just exhausted myself yelling at Parmagon and Earello. Phew! Who knew that being tough could be so tiring?"

"You yelled at my ex-boyfriend?" said Galadriel. "Hold it, I totally did not ask you to do that."

"I know that," I said. "But I figured you deserved it. You're such a good friend to me that the least I could do was yell at the jerk that broke your heart."

"You're so nice," laughed Caeriel. "If I had an ex-boyfriend, I'd totally want you to yell at him for me."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," muttered Galadriel. "What did you say to him, Aredhel?"

I gave her a brief overview of what I'd said to Parmagon and Earello. By the time I was ton, Galadriel and Caeriel were doubled over with laughter.

"Wow, Aredhel," gasped Caeriel. "That's _priceless_. I now have major amounts of respect for you."

"Same here," said Galadriel. "I never would have been able to do that. Wow."

I smiled. "Well, when you're pissed off, you tend to get a lot fiercer."

"I can't believe there's only five days left of summer," said Galadriel, going slightly off-topic. "Actually, more like four now."

"I'm not looking forward to the end," I said. "While all this romance and scandal may be stressful, it's better than being a servant to your uncle."

"You'll survive, Aredhel," said Caeriel. "You always do. And at least you'll be living with seven cute guys."

"Who happen to be _related _to me," I reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, right. That sucks."

"But you're right," I said. "I'll survive. And we'll just have to make these last few days of summer stretch on for as long as possible."


	17. Party Kids

_**All righty then, last chapter. Let's see, in this chapter we have Galadriel dressing like a boy, an extremely loud rock concert (of sorts), and one last scandal. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 16: Party Kids**

**(In which summer comes to its end)**

"It's a shame, isn't it," I said. "Here we are, two pretty girls on the night of the biggest festival of the summer, and neither one of us has a date."

"That doesn't mean we can't go," said Galadriel.

"Of course. But people are going to talk."

"People always talk, that's why we have tongues." She thought for a moment, and then snapped her fingers. "Of course! Aredhel, you still have like a bazillion of Turgon's old clothes in your closet, right?"

"Um…yes," I said. "Why?"

"Because I have an idea as to how we can _both _have dates and not need any guys at all!" She was going through my closet as she said this, and eventually pulled out a purple tunic and some black pants.

"And what is this wonderful idea?" I asked.

"I'm going to dress up like a guy and be your date!"

"Nuh-uh," I said. "No way. I am _not _going to go to Homecoming with _you_. Even if you are dressed like a guy."

"Why not?" said Galadriel. "It'll be fun, c'mon."

"It'll be _weird_."

"As are we," she replied coolly. "Anyway, you don't have any choice in the matter. If I have to use force I will."

"Okay, fine," I said. "But if this turns out badly, I am totally blaming you."

"Deal." She slipped off her dress and pulled on Turgon's old clothes. "Now help me braid my hair, will you?"

I sighed. "Yes, ma'am. I mean, _sir_."

"If you think you're going to offend me by saying that, you couldn't be more wrong, darling. Now come on, let's get ready. We only have half an hour."

I reluctantly assisted Galadriel in braiding her hair and generally putting herself together, and she helped me pick out a dress and do my hair. By the time we were done, we looked like a girl and her boyfriend. No kidding.

Well, a girl and her very girly-looking boyfriend. Whatever.

"Aw, man, we look _great_," said Galadriel, putting on a very fake deep voice. "Come on, baby, let's go."

"Don't call me baby," I ordered. "I'm a _woman_."

"Of course. Sorry, love."

"That's a little better."

Mom and Dad smiled when they saw us coming down the stairs. "You look very nice, Aredhel," said Mom. "But Galadriel, why are you dressed like a boy?"

"It's _Galadrion_ now," Galadriel informed her. "I'm Aredhel's date. You gonna introduce me to your parents, honey?"

Laughingly, I did so. Mom and Dad laughed too—they were obviously enjoying this. Galadriel was probably the most suitable date they possibly could have come up with for me.

"Well, you kids go and have fun," said Dad. "And boy, I want my daughter home by midnight, all right?"

Galadriel saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"We'll be coming to the festival later with Galadriel's parents," my mom reminded us.

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" I said, and off we went.

"Your parents are real nice, honey," commented Galadriel in her fake deep voice as we went.

I laughed. "_Galadrion_, are you going to keep this up all night?"

"Keep what up, sweetheart?"

"Okay, I guess you are. That's fine. But don't hurt yourself."

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that if Alqualonde was gorgeous normally, during the Homecoming Festival is was GORGEOUS in all capitals with an underline. The town square was lit up so brightly it almost looked like it was daytime, and everyone was in their absolute best clothes. It was, as Galadriel described it, fabulous.

"Galadrion," I said. "Boys don't say fabulous."

"Really?" said Galadriel, dropping her deep voice for a second. Fortunately, she regained it quickly. "Well, I do."

"Well, make sure you don't say it to often or people might stop believing your disguise."

Galadriel shrugged. "Who cares? Everyone's going to know who I am anyway. This disguise is just so we can both have dates. Plus, it's _so _much easier to dance when you're not wearing a skirt. Less risk of…wardrobe malfunctions."

I grinned. Man, did I really luck out in the cousin department or what?"

"Okay, what time is it?" Galadriel asked.

"Hmm, let me think," I said. "It was around 9:05 when we left the house, so it's got to be around 9:15 right now. Why?"

"Because if it's nine-fifteen, our dear friend Maglor is scheduled to come onstage and deafen us all in about two seconds."

Right on cue, someone dimmed the lamps behind us and all around us, until the only really bright lights were shining on the makeshift stage in front of us.

"_WHAT'S UP, ALQUALONDE_!" screamed Maglor, running onto said stage, fiddle in hand. I had to say, he looked like he was in top bad-boy form tonight, what with his messy hair, multiple earrings, and black tunic with the sleeves ripped off and _My Mom Thinks I'm Cool _embroidered on it.

We all screamed back, of course. That's what you do at things like that.

"Are we pissed about summer being almost over?" Maglor yelled.

Once again, we all yelled back.

"Well, you'd better be," said Maglor. "I'd like to dedicate this song to my cousin Aredhel, my friend Willa, and everyone else here who's had a summer romance that went wrong."

"Not beating around the bush, is he?" said Galadriel.

"Woo-hoo! I'm famous!" I said. "Not for any good reason, but still…"

Maglor played a couple of quick notes on his fiddle, and then started singing.

_ONE TWO THREE FOUR!_

_She told him "You're the devil"_

_He said "Girl, you're quite a sight"_

_She said "I wanna love you forever"_

_He said "I can love you for tonight"_

_Yeah, it don't matter_

_'Cause it won't last for long_

_Maybe we'll be together all summer_

_But wait two seconds and summer's gone_

"This song _rules_!" I yelled to Galadriel.

"Hell yeah!" she said. "I think we may have to do the dance."

"The dance" that Galadriel referred to was something she and I had made up when we were twelve. It was fairly simple: you started out facing forward, your hands out in front of you, palms down. Then you turned your hands palm up. Then you crossed your arms over your chest. Then you put one hand on either side of your head. Then you put your right hand on your left hip, and the other way around. Then you uncrossed your arms, put your hands on your hips, and turned to the right and did the entire thing over. You kept that up throughout the entire song.

Yes, it was stupid. But dang, was it fun.

So we did our stupid dance (and a bunch of people around us started doing it, too) while Maglor continued to rock out.

_There's no boundaries_

_There's no rules_

_You're young, so enjoy it while you can_

_In half an hour we might come undone_

_But who cares, it's just summer love_

Galadriel and I went to talk to Maglor after the show. He was sweaty, hoarse, and all in all happier than I'd seen him in a long time.

"'Sup, ladies!" he said. "G, what's up with the clothes?"

"I'm her date," Galadriel informed him in her fake deep voice. "So obviously I have to be a dude."

"Nice," said Maglor. "Like the show?"

"It kicked ass," I said. "The first song was totally great."

"Yeah, I wrote that, like, last night. Wasn't too sure how it'd turn out."

"Well, we loved it," said Galadriel. "We were right in front of the stage; did you see us?"

"Yeah, I saw you guys doing your trademark dance. I was honored, I have to say."

"Maglor, you ROCK!" cried Willa, running up to my cousin and kissing him smack on the lips. "I am, like, amazed. You're really _hot _when you sing."

"A_hem_," said Maedhros, who had come over with his girlfriend and who looked very annoyed. "Willa, I believe you're going out with _me_, remember? I don't really appreciate you making out with my brother."

Galadriel and I watched with amusement as Willa looked from one to the other, finally grinning and throwing her hands up. "I'm sorry, boys, I love you both, but the fact of the matter is that I simply can't decide between the two of you," she declared. "So I'm afraid we'll have to call this whole thing off. It was fun, though."

Maedhros and Maglor stared at her, shocked.

"Oh, don't look like that, darlings," Willa said brightly. "There's always next summer."

The most dangerous girl I'd ever met kissed both her ex-boyfriends on the cheek and flounced away, bursting into laughter when she thought she was out of our sight.

Maglor turned to his brother.

"Well, that was weird," he said. "Want to go get drunk off our asses?"

"Sure," said Maedhros. He and Maglor went off to find the alcohol supply, leaving Galadriel and I by ourselves.

"G, my dear," I said, "I believe you may have competition for the title of most heartbreaking girl in Valinor."

"Lose my title to some Telerin tramp with dreadlocks?" said Galadriel with a sniff, dropping her whole boy-pretense. "Not on your life!"

"Well, when was the last time you broke up with two boys at once?" I said. "Never, that's when. Watch your back, girlfriend."

"I'm _not _a girl…oh, I give up. This pretending-to-be-a-boy stuff is too hard," said Galadriel. "Man, this has been a crazy summer. Me and Earello, Maglor and Maedhros and Willa, your dad and Uncle Feanor's fight, you getting forced into servitude…oh, and you and Parmagon of course. That's, like, five scandals right there. So tell me, how did your fist summer romance feel?"

"It was…educational," I said. "And annoying and heartbreaking and emotional, but I still wouldn't change a thing."

"That's my girl," said Galadriel. "Hey, isn't that your ex over there?"

I glanced over my shoulder and sure enough, there was Parmagon looking at me with—maybe—a bit of regret in his eyes. For a moment, I was regretful too, that things had turned out how they had. he may have been a jerk, but he'd been my first kiss, my first fling, the first guy I'd ever really cared about.

But whatever. As Willa had said, there was always next summer.

**End**

_**Little did you know that Aredhel and Galadriel invented the Macarena. Or that Maglor invented wearing shirts with words on them. Ha, I totally just blew your mind.**_

**_(And yeah, I know that song probably sucked. Oh well)_**

_**Well, this has been fun. Thanks for the reviews, everyone, and I'll see you next time!**_


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